Overview
Real Madrid enters the second leg of the Champions League play-offs with the goal of completing what they started in 90 controversial minutes in Portugal.
The minimal 1-0 victory at Estadio da Luz last week - thanks to Vinicius's goal in the 50th minute - helped Alvaro Arbeloa's team take a significant advantage before the rematch at Santiago Bernabeu.
However, the first leg is not only mentioned because of professional factors. After Vinicius's goal, Gianluca Prestianni was accused of having racist words aimed at the Brazilian star - something that the Benfica winger denied. UEFA confirmed that the investigation is still ongoing and has decided to temporarily suspend Prestianni in the second leg.
Real Madrid is rated much higher when returning to their home ground, even though they just suffered a 1-2 defeat to Osasuna, thereby losing the top spot in La Liga to Barcelona after their arch-rivals defeated Levante 3-0.
The 15-time European champion team has advanced in 22/23 recent wins in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round. The only exception is the stumble against Ajax in the 1/8 round of the 2018-2019 season (won 2-1 in the first leg, lost 1-4 in the second leg).
However, Los Blancos have only won both legs once in the last seven knockout matches. That was the confrontation with Manchester City in the play-offs last season.
Notably, Real Madrid's last 25 matches in the Champions League have all determined the winner (16 wins, 9 losses). Benfica has also not drawn in the last 11 matches (3 wins, 8 losses). Only Liverpool (29 matches) and Marseille (32 matches) have a longer draw streak than Real Madrid in league history.
Kylian Mbappe is the leader of Real Madrid in the Champions League this season with 14 assists (13 goals, 1 assist). This is the best record of a Real player in a season since Karim Benzema's 2021-2022 campaign (17 assists).
Benfica is facing a difficult problem when Real Madrid has had 115 clean sheets in the Champions League - equal to Bayern Munich's record (calculated from the 1992-1993 season). Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois reached the milestone of 33 clean sheets in the first leg, equaling Oliver Kahn's record. With just one more match, he will catch up with the milestone of 34 matches of legend Dida.
However, Benfica once created an unbelievable moment against Real Madrid at the end of January, when goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored in the 90+8 minute, sealing a 4-2 victory and bringing the Portuguese representative to the play-off round.
Jose Mourinho - who coached Real Madrid for 3 years (2010-2013) and won La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup - is currently ranked third in the Portuguese national championship with Benfica. He will attend the second leg from the stands due to being sent off in the first leg.
Having twice won the Champions League with Porto and Inter, Mourinho is experiencing a series of 9 consecutive knockout matches without wins (4 draws, 5 losses). Including 4 recent defeats - the longest streak of a coach in the knockout round of the tournament.
Statistics also do not favor Benfica. They only reversed the situation once after losing the first leg at home in eight knockout rounds in European cups - to Dinamo Bucuresti in the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup (losing 0-1 at home, winning 2-0 away).
Head-to-head record
Real Madrid and Benfica will face each other in their third consecutive match in the Champions League this season - a scenario that has never appeared in the history of the league. This is the first time the two teams have faced each other in 3 consecutive matches in the same Champions League season.
The upcoming match is also the sixth time the two teams have met in the C1/Champions League Cup, extending a long-standing predestined relationship through many generations.
Although Real Madrid gained an advantage in the first leg, Benfica is one of the two rare opponents that the Royal team has faced more than five times in the tournament and has more defeats than wins. Specifically, Real Madrid has lost 3 matches to Benfica and only won 2 after 5 previous encounters.
Score prediction: Real Madrid 3-2 Benfica
The match between Real Madrid and Benfica takes place at 3:00 AM on February 26 (Vietnam time).
