SPECIAL ONE NOW THE BANNED ONE
Benfica manager Jose Mourinho has been banned from the club’s Champions League knockout second leg clash away to Real Madrid.
The Champions League is currently in the knockout stages, and on Tuesday night, Benfica hosted Real Madrid in their first-leg match. In what was a competitive game with end-to-end action, it turned nasty after Vinicius Jr scored an absolute beauty. The Brazilian scored in the 50th minute and went on to celebrate at the corner flag, riling up the home fans. Vinicius was then shown a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct.
However, the Champions League play-off first leg was halted for 10 minutes with the players leaving the pitch after Vinicius told referee Francois Letexier that Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni had called him a “monkey”. This is now a significant issue, and further investigations will be conducted to try to understand exactly what happened, ensuring the right action is taken.
The Portuguese gaffer was already on a yellow card before he lost his cool and blasted the referee. After Benfica earned a free kick outside the box following a Vinicius Jr foul, Jose was furious with the referee. Mourinho felt that Vinicius should have been given a second yellow card (having already been booked after his goal) for a bad foul on his player. Jose made an accusatory gesture at the referee, urging him ‘do your job” and to send off Vini.
The official had no choice but to give him a second yellow card and send Mourinho off, meaning he will not be at the Santiago Bernabeu dugout for the second leg.
Despite Madrid holding on to the narrow 1-0 victory, the overall game will be remembered for its turmoil, but those issues will not be shelved, and we will hear what is to happen in the coming days. For now, we can expect the second leg at the Bernabeu to be fired up.
