VINICIUS JUNIOR SCORED the winner on the night as Real Madrid beat Benfica 2-1 in the Champions League, progressing 3-1 on aggregate to the last 16.
It was the Brazilian forward’s superb goal which separated the teams in a first leg marred by an incident of alleged racial abuse aimed at him by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, who denies it.
Jose Mourinho’s side were still alive in the play-off round tie and took the lead early on at the Santiago Bernabeu through Rafa Silva, although Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni swiftly levelled.
Benfica gave the record 15-time champions a rough ride but fittingly Vinicius, who never hides from the spotlight, scored on 80 minutes to effectively end the contest.
It was Portuguese coach Mourinho’s first time back at the Santiago Bernabeu since he coached Real Madrid from 2010-2013, but he could not lead his team from the dug-out because of suspension.
After a week dominated by the fall-out from the first leg, Vinicius lined up for Real Madrid alongside Gonzalo Garcia, who stepped in for injured French superstar Kylian Mbappe.
Benfica were without banned midfielder Prestianni, after an appeal against his provisional one-game sanction was turned down earlier on Wednesday, with UEFA still investigating the incident.
Madrid hung a large banner reading “no to racism” at one end, with the game played under the shadow of what happened last week in Lisbon.
There were boos for Vinicius from the visiting Benfica fans and he prodded wide in the early stages, appealing in vain for a penalty as Nicolas Otamendi collided with him after he got his shot away.
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Benfica took a deserved lead in the 14th minute as Madrid defender Raul Asencio clumsily turned the ball towards his own goal.
Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois kept the ball out but Silva was on hand to bundle home from close range.
Stung into action, Madrid pulled level two minutes later through Tchouameni. The French midfielder finished with aplomb from the edge of the box from rampaging team-mate Federico Valverde’s cross.
Madrid thought they had gone ahead on the night when Arda Guler stabbed home a loose ball after Garcia’s shot was blocked, but the Spanish striker had edged offside and it was disallowed after a VAR review.
Courtois made a fine save from Richard Rios before the break, as Benfica turned up the pressure.
Silva hit the bar with a deflected effort before the hour mark as Mourinho’s side at times pinned back the hosts.
Madrid were dealt a set-back as Asencio was forced off on a stretcher after colliding with Eduardo Camavinga.
It had to be Vinicius who settled the tie, though, and Valverde played him scuttling through on goal, with the Brazilian calmly rolling a low shot past goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Vinicius produced another celebratory dance by the corner flag, as he had done in the first leg in the run-up to the flashpoint with Prestianni, and to the chagrin of Mourinho.
This time, the 25-year-old just had thousands of jubilant fans jumping up and down before him, and his goal confirmed Madrid’s passage to the last 16.
Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain came from behind and then survived a late scare against 10-man Monaco, drawing 2-2 in the second leg of their knockout phase play-off tie to reach the last 16 with a 5-4 aggregate victory.
The defending European champions came from two behind to win 3-2 in the principality in last week’s first leg, a game in which Monaco had a man sent off early in the second half.
The scenario this time was similar, with French international Maghnes Akliouche giving Monaco a deserved interval lead on the night to level the scores overall.
However, the visitors had Mamadou Coulibaly sent off on 58 minutes, and that proved the catalyst for PSG to make it 1-1 through Marquinhos before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia seemed to have clinched the aggregate triumph.
Jordan Teze did make it 2-2 in stoppage time, but PSG held on to progress to the next round.
Luis Enrique’s team will now find out on Friday their potential opponents all the way to the final in Budapest, with Barcelona and Chelsea their possible rivals in the last 16.
Paris beat Barcelona 2-1 away during the league phase in October and have faced the Catalans in five knockout ties since 2013. They played Chelsea in the final of the Club World Cup last year, losing 3-0 –- their only blip in a remarkable campaign.
PSG were widely expected to get the better of their domestic rivals here — Monaco are currently eighth in Ligue 1, 20 points behind leaders PSG, although they did beat the Parisians in November.
The principality side had not won a Champions League knockout tie since their run to the semi-finals in 2017 with a side featuring a teenage Kylian Mbappe.