FOOTBALL – REAL Madrid’s Vinicius Jr scored a superb second-half goal to secure a 1-0 victory at Benfica in their Champions League playoff first leg last night in a match overshadowed by an alleged racist incident that led to an 11-minute stoppage.
After a tight first half, Real broke through five minutes after halftime. Mbappe led a counter-attack and fed Vinicius, who cut inside and curled a fine shot into the far corner.
As Vinicius celebrated, a heated exchange with Benfica forward Gianluca Prestianni prompted referee Francois Letexier to activate Fifa’s anti-racism protocol. Real’s players briefly threatened to leave the pitch before play resumed.
Benfica pressed late on but managed only three shots on target in the match. Their manager Jose Mourinho was sent off in the 85th minute after two bookings as Real claimed a narrow advantage for next Wednesday’s return leg at the Bernabeu.
Meanwhile, title holders Paris Saint Germain overcame a horror start and a two-goal deficit to beat 10-man Monaco 3-2 away yesterday.
Desire Doue came off the bench to engineer an impressive turnaround for PSG, who conceded a goal in the opening minute and were 2-0 down after 18 minutes as Folarin Balogun grabbed a double for the hosts.
The 20-year-old Doue replaced Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele, who went off injured after 27 minutes, and proved decisive for the visitors as he struck two superb goals plus set up one for Achraf Hakimi.
Galatasaray secured a commanding 5-2 victory over 10-man Juventus with Noa Lang and Gabriel Sara starring in a scintillating display.
Sara opened the scoring for the hosts in the 15th minute with a stunning long-range strike, but Juventus responded immediately through Teun Koopmeiners, who equalised. Koopmeiners doubled his tally in the 32nd minute with a powerful shot from outside the box to put the Italians ahead.
Galatasaray equalised just after the break when Lang slotted home a rebound from Baris Alper Yilmaz’s effort. The Turkish side then regained the lead on the hour mark as Davinson Sanchez turned in a precise Sara set-piece.
Juventus were reduced to 10 men in the 67th minute when Juan Cabal was dismissed for a second booking. Lang punished a defensive mistake to score his second in the 75th minute, before substitute Sacha Boey added the fifth four minutes from time to seal a dominant win.
Striker Serhou Guirassy scored one goal and created another as hosts Borussia Dortmund claimed a 2-0 victory over Italian visitors Atalanta.
The match kicked off 15 minutes late as the Dortmund team bus was caught in traffic, but they were fast out of the blocks as Guirassy put the home side in front inside three minutes with a header at the back post.
They doubled their advantage on 42 minutes via Max Beier after he was teed up by Guirassy in a deserved victory for the German side, with Atalanta offering little in the way of a goal threat.
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