Vinicius shines as Real Madrid advances to the Champions League round of 16

Real Madrid booked their place in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 following a tough 2-1 win against S.L. Benfica, sealing a 3-1 aggregate triumph and stretching their unbeaten run to seven wins straight at Santiago Bernabéu.

Last week's first leg was overshadowed by an unpleasant incident involving Vinícius Júnior and Gianluca Prestianni amid renewed focus on racial discrimination issues. Vinícius’s brilliant goal gave Los Blancos a narrow advantage, but they started the second leg in a shaky manner.

At the 14th minute, the aggregate score was leveled when Rafa Silva opened the scoring for the visitors. Raúl Asencio’s indecisive clearance from Vangelis Pavlidis’s cross allowed Silva to score on the rebound. However, Real quickly responded with a stunning one-touch volley from Aurélien Tchouaméni following Federico Valverde’s cross. Arda Güler had a close-range goal disallowed by VAR due to a tight offside call. The match was played at a high tempo, and Real owed thanks to Thibaut Courtois for an excellent save against Richard Ríos’s shot just before halftime.

After the break, both teams continued to exchange attacks. Trent Alexander-Arnold broke through and shot just wide, while Silva’s deflected shot struck the crossbar. Real appeared unstable and nearly paid the price when Pavlidis’s shot narrowly missed. The tension increased when Asencio had to be stretchered off following a heavy collision with Eduardo Camavinga.

Just when a morale boost was needed, Vinícius stepped up. He sprinted to meet Valverde’s through ball and then skillfully finished with his right foot past Trubin. It was a rare moment of quality in a game marked by physicality and lack of flow. Still, Rafa Silva kept causing problems and almost scored again before Álvaro Carreras intervened in time.

In the end, Álvaro Arbeloa’s squad did enough to advance to the round of 16, a feat they have achieved every season since 1996/97. On the other hand, José Mourinho extended his winless streak in Champions League knockout rounds to 10 matches (4 draws, 6 losses), while Benfica have lost 8 of their last 9 ties after dropping the first leg at home in European knockout rounds.