LISBON.- He real Madrid took a slight advantage this Tuesday in the first leg of the play-off of the Champions by winning 1-0 at Benfica in Lisbon, in a match that was briefly interrupted after Viniciusscorer of the goal, will denounce racist insults by the Argentine Gianluca Prestianni.
After opening the scoring with a right-footed shot (50′), the Madrid striker made some gesture towards the crowd, which sparked an argument with several Benfica players that earned him a warning.
But when the match seemed about to resume, the Brazilian ran towards the referee pointing his finger at Prestianni, who allegedly covered his mouth with his shirt to say “monkey.”
The referee, the French François Letexierthen stopped the match for a few minutes to activate the anti-racism protocol, but ordered the players to resume the game without another sanction.
In the first minutes, the pupils of Alvaro Arbeloa They were solid at the back and daring in attack against a Lisbon team that was shrinking more and more to the point of receiving a siege before the break.
“They have heard something very ugly”
A saving hand Thibaut Courtois and the bad fortune of Kyllian Mbappéwho had several dangerous chances in the final minutes, left the score tied at half-time
But, after Vinicius’s shot, who had entered the area to place the ball in the corner of the far post, where the Ukrainian goalkeeper could not reach it Anatoly Trubinthe controversy arrived.
“I don’t know what he might have said to him. According to all the colleagues nearby, they have heard something very ugly. Many people have been fighting over this. Vinicius, one of them. It is unfortunate that so many cameras cannot record that. If you cover your mouth to say something… Proud of Vinicius and his great game,” declared the Uruguayan Federico Valverde on television.
“The insult is something very serious. It has happened many times already. As teammates we have to help him and support him. I doubt there isn’t a camera that has seen it,” added the midfielder.
In the last stretch, the Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho He ended up being sent off for his protests when asking Vinicius for a second yellow card, after knocking down the Colombian. Richard Rios on the edge of the area, so the coach will miss the return leg next week at the Santiago Bernabéu.
With this victory, Real Madrid took revenge on Benfica, a team that took the whites out of the top eight – a direct pass to the round of 16 – when they beat them 4-2 in the last match of the group, thus forcing them to play this tie while the Portuguese qualified in stoppage time with a goal from their goalkeeper.
