{"id":108795,"date":"2026-02-18T04:56:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T08:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/real-madrid-strikes-in-lisbon-beats-benfica-0-1-and-advances-in-champions-league\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T08:56:04","slug":"real-madrid-strikes-in-lisbon-beats-benfica-0-1-and-advances-in-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/nationals\/real-madrid-strikes-in-lisbon-beats-benfica-0-1-and-advances-in-champions-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid strikes in Lisbon: Beats Benfica 0-1 and advances 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;, played at the Est\u00e1dio da Luz in front of more than 65,000 spectators.\n\nThe merengue team demonstrated defensive solidity and took advantage of their opportunities, securing the victory with a goal from Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior at the beginning of the second half.\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">First Half with Alternating Dominance<\/h2>\n\n\nThe match began with both teams seeking control. Benfica created danger down the wings, with Andreas Schjelderup and Gianluca Prestianni as protagonists. For their part, Madrid tried to penetrate with Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga.\n\nThibaut Courtois, Real Madrid&#8217;s goalkeeper, was crucial in stopping a shot from Fredrik Aursnes. In the final stretch of the first half, Madrid intensified their attack, testing goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, who maintained the tie before halftime.\n\n<h2>Vin\u00edcius Imbalances the Match<\/h2>\n\nThe difference came in the 49th minute, when Vin\u00edcius made an individual play, surpassing his marker and scoring to make it 0-1. After the goal, referee Fran\u00e7ois Letexier activated the anti-racism protocol due to alleged insults directed at Vin\u00edcius from the stands, interrupting the game for a few minutes before resuming.\n\n<h2>Madrid&#8217;s Control and Mourinho&#8217;s Expulsion<\/h2>\n\nReal Madrid controlled the pace of the match in the second half, with Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni standing out in containing the Portuguese attacks.\n\nIn the 84th minute, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho, Benfica&#8217;s coach, was sent off for protesting a referee&#8217;s decision, missing the return match at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u.\n\nThe match ended after more than 100 minutes, with a minimal advantage for Real Madrid, who will seek to secure their place 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 (R\u00edos, 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\n<p><strong>Goal:<\/strong> 0-1, min. 49: Vin\u00edcius.<\/p>\n\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;, played at the Est\u00e1dio da Luz in front of more than 65,000 spectators. The merengue team demonstrated defensive solidity and took advantage of their opportunities, securing the victory with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[997],"tags":[2444,8023,254,2521],"class_list":{"0":"post-108795","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\/108795","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=108795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}