{"id":108766,"date":"2026-02-17T21:50:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/real-madrid-defeats-benfica-in-lisbon-vinicius-gives-advantage-in-champions-league\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:50:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:50:41","slug":"real-madrid-defeats-benfica-in-lisbon-vinicius-gives-advantage-in-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/nationals\/real-madrid-defeats-benfica-in-lisbon-vinicius-gives-advantage-in-champions-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid defeats Benfica in Lisbon: Vin\u00edcius gives advantage in Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"LISBON, Portugal \u2013 Real Madrid moves closer to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 after defeating Benfica 0-1 in the first leg of the &#8216;playoff&#8217;, held at the Est\u00e1dio da Luz before more than 65,000 spectators.\n\nThe merengue team demonstrated defensive solidity and greater precision at key moments, securing the victory with a goal from the Brazilian Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior at the beginning of the second half.\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Balanced First Half<\/h2>\n\n\nThe match began with shared dominance. Benfica created danger down the wings, especially with Andreas Schjelderup and Gianluca Prestianni, while Madrid sought to penetrate with Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga.\n\nThibaut Courtois, Real Madrid&#8217;s goalkeeper, was crucial in preventing the scoreboard from opening, stopping a shot from Fredrik Aursnes. In the final stretch of the first half, Madrid increased its intensity, testing goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, who maintained the tie before halftime.\n\n<h2>Vin\u00edcius breaks the tie<\/h2>\n\nThe difference came in the 49th minute, when Vin\u00edcius made an individual play of great quality: he faced his defender, entered the area and defined a cross to beat Trubin and establish the definitive 0-1.\n\nAfter the goal, referee Fran\u00e7ois Letexier activated the anti-racism protocol due to a complaint from Vin\u00edcius for alleged insults from the stands. The game was stopped for several minutes before resuming.\n\n<h2>Mourinho&#8217;s White Control and Expulsion<\/h2>\n\nMadrid controlled the pace of the match in the second half, with an outstanding performance by Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni, who stopped several offensive attempts by the Portuguese team.\n\nIn the 84th minute, Benfica coach Jos\u00e9 Mourinho was sent off for protesting a referee&#8217;s decision, which will prevent him from managing in the second leg at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u.\n\nThe match ended after more than 100 minutes, including added time, with a minimal advantage for Real Madrid, who will seek to secure their qualification at home.\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Technical Sheet<\/h2>\n\n\n<strong>Benfica (0):<\/strong> Trubin; Dedic, Tom\u00e1s Ara\u00fajo, Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi, Dahl; Schjelderup (Rios, 73\u2019), Aursnes, Barreiro; Rafa Silva (Sudakov, 73\u2019), Prestianni, Pavlidis.\n\n\n<p><strong>Real Madrid (1):<\/strong> Courtois; Trent Alexander-Arnold, R\u00fcdiger, Huijsen, \u00c1lvaro Carreras (Carvajal, 98\u2019); Arda G\u00fcler (Brahim, 86\u2019), Valverde, Tchouam\u00e9ni, Camavinga (Pitarch, 93\u2019); Vin\u00edcius and Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n<strong>Goal:<\/strong> 0-1, min. 49: Vin\u00edcius.\n\n<strong>Referee:<\/strong> Fran\u00e7ois Letexier (France). He cautioned Vin\u00edcius and Mbapp\u00e9; Prestianni for Benfica. He sent off Jos\u00e9 Mourinho.\n\n<strong>Stadium:<\/strong> Est\u00e1dio da Luz, Lisbon.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LISBON, Portugal \u2013 Real Madrid moves closer to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 after defeating Benfica 0-1 in the first leg of the &#8216;playoff&#8217;, held at the Est\u00e1dio da Luz before more than 65,000 spectators. The merengue team demonstrated defensive solidity and greater precision at key moments, securing the victory with a goal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[997],"tags":[2444,8023,254,2521],"class_list":{"0":"post-108766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nationals","8":"tag-benfica","9":"tag-mourinho","10":"tag-real-madrid","11":"tag-vinicius"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}