Real Madrid recovered from an early scare to beat Benfica 2-1 on Wednesday and secure a 3-1 aggregate victory to reach the Champions League last 16 after a pulsating game at the Bernabeu.
Aurelien Tchouameni and Vinicius Junior struck either side of half time to cancel out Rafa Silva’s opener and send the record 15-times European champions through, with either Manchester City or Sporting awaiting in Friday’s draw.
Benfica, trailing 1-0 from a first leg in Portugal marred by Vinicius accusing Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of directing a racist slur at him, started brightly and sliced through a makeshift-looking Real defence missing Eder Militao and Dean Huijsen, with forward Kylian Mbappé also out due to a knee injury set to sideline him for multiple games.
Benfica manager Jose Mourinho was absent from the touchline after receiving a red card in the first leg for complaining, and Prestianni was not involved after being provisionally suspended by UEFA after the incident with Vinicius in Lisbon.
The visitors went ahead in the 14th minute in chaotic fashion. Thibaut Courtois produced a stunning left-footed save to prevent Raul Asencio turning Pavlidis’s cross into his own net, but the rebound dropped invitingly for Rafa, who controlled the ball inside the six-yard box before firing past the keeper.
Real’s response was swift and slick. Two minutes later Gonzalo linked up smartly with Federico Valverde on the right wing, the Uruguayan cutting the ball back towards the edge of the box where Tchouameni guided a low finish just inside the right post.
With the tie finely poised, the game opened up and Arda Guler thought he had put Real ahead in the 32nd minute, only for VAR to rule the effort out for offside in the build-up.
Benfica continued to threaten, Richard Rios drawing a superb save from Courtois with a fierce strike in the 38th minute but the home side began to find more rhythm after the break.
Asencio headed narrowly wide from a corner and Trent Alexander-Arnold flashed an angled effort past the post, but Real were almost punished for their profligacy.
On the hour mark, Vinicius was caught as Real attempted to play out from the back, allowing Rafa to unleash a thunderous shot from the edge of the box that crashed against the crossbar.
The tension lingered until the 80th minute, when Valverde seized on a loose ball in midfield and threaded a precise pass through to Vinicius who timed his run to beat the offside trap, surged into the box and slotted a composed finish into the bottom corner to settle the tie.
“We didn’t start very well, but we remained confident and knew the goals would come eventually,” Tchouameni told Movistar Plus.
“We did things a little better as the match progressed and now we’re going to keep going as we move forward. We need to tweak our defence a little and get into the game better, but we won, and that’s the most important thing.”
Also on Wednesday night, holders Paris St Germain edged into the last 16 after a 2-2 home draw with 10-man Monaco in their second leg in Paris, advancing 5-4 on aggregate from a tense tie that went right to the wire.
Monaco went ahead on the stroke of half time through Maghnes Akliouche, but after Mamadou Coulibaly was sent off, PSG took immediate advantage to equalise through Marquinhos in the 60th minute and then six minutes later went ahead through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
But Monaco set up a furious finish when substitute Jordan Teze scored from Simon Adingra’s cross to make it 2-2 in stoppage time and Wout Faes missed a last-gasp chance to force the game into extra time as a glancing header went wide.
PSG will meet Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16.
Galatasaray were beaten 3-2 at Juventus in Turin but progressed 7-5 on aggregate thanks to two extra-time goals after the hosts came agonisingly close to pulling off a great escape despite playing with 10 men.
Left with a mountain to climb after a 5-2 loss in Istanbul, Juventus forced the tie into the extra 30 minutes and looked to have the upper hand before Victor Osimhen struck at the end of the first half of extra time and Baris Alper Yilmaz netted late on.
Manuel Locatelli opened the scoring for the home side from the penalty spot eight minutes before the break. Juventus had Lloyd Kelly sent off three minutes after the interval before Federico Gatti scored with 20 minutes left.
Galatasaray were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage and Weston McKennie headed in eight minutes from the end, but it is the Turkish side who will meet either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the last 16 with the draw on Friday.
Atalanta needed a stoppage-time penalty from Lazar Samardzic to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-1 and advance with a 4-3 aggregate win.
Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini was sent off after his studs caught the head of an Atalanta player in the penalty area and Samardzic converted the spot kick to send the Italians through. Atalanta will face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the last 16.
The hosts scored at the start and then end of the first half with goals from Gianluca Scamacca and Davide Zappacosta and took control of the tie with Mario Pasalic’s header early in the second half.
But Dortmund cut the deficit with substitute Karim Adeyemi’s curled shot in the 75th to level the tie once more before Atalanta’s last-gasp winner.