Vinicius Jr scored a superb winner in the Champions League before temporarily leaving the field after an alleged racist incident between Real Madrid and Benfica.
The Brazil forward bent in an unstoppable shot to put Alvaro Arbeloa’s side ahead shortly after the break.
He was booked for his celebrations and items were thrown towards him from the stands.
Television pictures showed a heated exchange between Vinicius and Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni.
The forward then spoke to referee Francois Letexier and went and sat down in the dugout as play was halted for around 10 minutes. Letexier made a crossed arms gesture to signal racist abuse.
Both coaches spoke to the player for a time and play eventually restarted.
Former Real midfielder Clarence Seedorf told Amazon Prime: “This is the first time we have seen this protocol from the referee in a game of this level.
“The referee stops the game. It is an official gesture that there has been a report of racist abuse.
“This is an important issue we cannot just wave it away. The referee did well to let everyone calm down. This is an education process.”
Benfica’s former Real boss Jose Mourinho was later shown a red card for dissent in an ugly second half at the Estadio da Luz.
Real players were continually pelted with items from the stands on a difficult night for players and officials alike.
“It is so sad that we are still having to deal with this,” added former England captain Wayne Rooney on Prime Video.
“Still we get players abused. All the joyous moments we get are overshadowed. It’s terrible.”
On a brighter note, Vinicius is now the outright second highest scoring Brazilian in the Champions League with 31 goals, overtaking Kaka on 30. Only Neymar has netted more (43).
The forward has been the victim of alleged racism during his time in Spain.
“There is no justification for racist abuse,” said Seedorf.
“Vini has been troubled for many years now in a bad way in Spain. We cannot hide.”
