The masters of the Champions League,Real Madrid secured their seat in the round of 16 of the Champions League after meandering their way to a 2-1 and 3-1 aggregate win over SL Benfica at the Bernabeu.
Rafa Silva buried the Bernabeu into total silence a he fed on Thibaut Courtois’ scrappy save to tap the ball home after a shot across the face of goal from Greek international Vangelis Pavlidis was mistakenly made mess of by Raul Asencio who forced Courtois into an impromptu save.
Real Madrid showed grit to level the scoreline through Aurelien Tchouameni who saw a pocket of space to curl home a sensational strike past Anatoliy Trubin who was beaten hands down. Credit goes to Federico Valverde who made an excellent darting run into Benfica’s goal area before setting up Tchouameni who finished with finesse.
Skipper Federico Valverde Dipetta played a hug role in setting up Vinicius Jr who scored a trademark curling goal.
As always Thibaut Courtois made a big statement by making some key saves to keep his shaky backline at bay and it was worth it as the Belgian showed his class and sent a clear message to opposing teams why he’s one of the best in the game.
At this point Madrid will face either ManCity or Sporting Lisbon in the last 16 when the draw is held on Friday,February 27,2026.
By: Andrews Addotey
