Brazilian striker Vinicius Júnior was the highlight of Real Madrid (Spain)’s 2-1 victory over Benfica (Portugal) in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 playoffs. With the triumph, achieved this Wednesday (25) at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, the Merengues secured themselves in the next phase of the continental competition.
This was the second consecutive game between Real and the Portuguese team decided by the Brazilian striker. Last week, the national team player scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory. However, Vinicius Júnior also ended up standing out on that occasion for a negative reason, as he reported that he suffered racist aggression after being called “mono”, the Spanish term for monkey, in an argument with Gianluca Prestianni, from Benfica.
This Wednesday the Brazilian was the protagonist only for positive reasons. After Real had a scare in the 13th minute of the first half, seeing Benfica open the scoring with Portuguese midfielder Rafa Silva, the Spanish team equalized two minutes later with Frenchman Tchouaméni hitting a shot from the edge of the area.
After the break, the teams created fewer opportunities, and Vinicius Júnior managed to lead the Madrid team to victory with a beautiful goal in the 34th minute. Uruguayan Valverde launched the Brazilian at speed, who, with great freedom, advanced to the entrance of the area and hit, with great style, the exit of goalkeeper Trubin.
