Lineups 

Real Madrid XI: Courtois; Trent, Rüdiger, Asencio, Carreras; Tchouaméni, Valverde, Camavinga, Güler; Vinicius, Gonzalo.

Benfica XI: Trubin; Dedic, Otamendi, T. Araújo, Dahl; Aursnes, Barreiro; Lukébakio, Sudakov, Schjelderup; Pavlidis.

It has been quite the turbulent period since the first leg of this playoff that saw Madrid secure a 1-0 win in Lisbon.  A game that was largely overshadowed by an incident that occurred on the pitch. Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni made a racist remark to Vincius Jr covering his mouth with his kit before calling Vini a “Mono” in Spanish which means “Monkey” in English. Because of this there were a lot of emotions and tension heading into the Wednesday night clash at the Bernabeu. 

Benfica came out of the tunnel with vengeance. Through the first 10 minutes of the match it was all Benfica, dominating possession and creating some very insightful chances. Vini had an opportunity in the 6th minute of the match, but it landed just left of the post. Benfica with a great through ball out wide was able to break through a shaky Madrid defense that had been holding on for dear life (Goal from a deflection tapped in by Rafa Silva in the 14th minute). Real Madrid finally decided to wake up after conceding to Benfica, they immediately went down the field and from a beautiful cross put right in the path of Tchouameni, he was able to slot one home from outside the 18-yard box to even the score (16th minute). Arda Guler found himself in the right place at the right time to notch what seemed to be a goal, however after a speedy VAR decision, the goal was disallowed as a Madrid player was in an offside position in the build-up play. The first half ended up coming to a quiet close as both teams headed for the dressing room to regroup for another huge 45 minutes of play.


Both Madrid and Benfica ultras roared their sides on to start the half. There was a great corner from Trent that found Asencio’s head who thumped the ball just over the net. Trent had a great drive into the box, cutting up the defender and putting a great shot on target that whizzed just by the back left post (56th minute). Raul Asencio received a yellow card in the 57th minute immediately after Trent’s chance, a completely reckless challenge. Benfica took the ball back from Madrid just outside the 18 where a beautiful trivela shot was put on frame thundering off the top of the woodwork.  In the 70th minute Benfica began to play extremely aggressively, putting shots on goal forcing Courtois to stay alert and on his toes. Asencio and Camavinga collided with each other when going up for a 50-50 ball.  Then Asencio was stretchered off after an apparent head injury in the 76th minute. In the 81st minute a beautiful ball is played through from Valverde to Vini where he takes it all the way and slots it around the keeper to the bottom right corner. He ran immediately to the corner flag and did the celebration he did the last time playing Benfica! Los Blancos solidified a 2-1 win.