Vinicius Junior scored and then alleged he had been racially abused during Real Madrid’s 1-0 win away to Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie on Tuesday, while Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) came from two goals down to beat Monaco 3-2.
Elsewhere, Galatasaray stunned Juventus, beating the Italians 5-2 in Istanbul, and Borussia Dortmund seized the upper hand in their tie against Atalanta with a 2-0 first-leg victory.
Madrid headed to Lisbon to play Benfica less than three weeks after a dramatic 4-2 defeat away to the same opponents, when goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored a stunning late goal to take the Portuguese side through to the knock-out stages and force Real to drop into the play-offs.
Benfica coach Jose Mourinho was hoping to again inspire his current side to victory against the club he coached from 2010 to 2013, but the night was instead overshadowed by the alleged racist abuse reported by Vinicius.
The Brazilian scored a superb goal early in the second half, arrowing his shot into the top corner. His moment of brilliance, though, quickly became controversial when he was booked for his dancing celebration in front of the crowd.
That booking sparked an exchange with Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, who pulled his shirt over his mouth before appearing to say something to Vinicius.
The Real Madrid forward then ran over to referee Francois Letexier and, pointing at Prestianni, seemed to claim he had been called “mono”, the Spanish word for monkey.
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That led to a hold-up of several minutes before the game resumed, with Vinicius then being jeered by the home fans.
Mourinho was then sent off in the final stages of a spiky game for complaining too vociferously as he appealed for a second yellow card for Vinicius, meaning he will not be on the touchline for the second leg at the Bernabeu next week.
The long stoppage led to 12 minutes of added-on time, but Benfica could not use them to find an equaliser, and face an uphill struggle in the Spanish capital next week.
In Monaco, reigning European champions PSG recovered from a shambolic start as Desire Doue inspired a comeback from two goals down to beat the principality side.
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