Vinícius Júnior and his teammates appeared ready to walk off and the game was put on hold for 10 minutes after the Brazilian told the referee that he had been subject to racist abuse after scoring the goal that gives Real Madrid a 1-0 first-leg lead in their Champions League playoff against Benfica. Vinícius had celebrated the strike dancing in the corner of the Estádio da Luz and in the confrontations that followed, Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni said something to him while covering his mouth. Vinícius immediately ran to the referee, François Letexier, who stopped the match and crossed his arms to signal that he was doing so because of an accusation of racist abuse.
Both managers came on to the pitch and Vinícius spoke to José Mourinho to explain what had happened. Conversations and confrontations continued as Vinícius sat alone on the bench, but eventually they restarted with the Brazilian on the pitch. The noise that accompanied Benfica’s attempts to get back into it, and a red card for Mourinho as he protested a late foul on the edge of the Madrid area, were unable to eclipse the feeling that there was something empty, something sadder, about the occasion now, like this match no longer mattered. Its lasting legacy will not be about the football.
It had been different to the last time they had met, just 20 days ago. Mourinho had said that he began his analysis by watching back the last meeting, but soon turned off and threw his early prep in the bin. This Madrid is not that Madrid, he said, and that was quickly clear. Álvaro Arbeloa has settled on a structure that gives a more muscular presence in the middle, offering a solidity that simply wasn’t there three weeks ago. Benfica started brightly again, the noise rising as Rafa Silva was almost slipped in after just three minutes and there was a willingness to run through the middle from deep, particularly from Leandro Barreiro, but they would not find it so easy to tear into Madrid this
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