Vinicius Jr. Fires Real Madrid into UCL Last 16, Atalanta Stuns Dortmund

Vinicius Jr. scored the decisive goal in the 80th minute to settle an anxious night at the Santiago Bernabeu, where the tie was level on the evening and the hosts struggled for long spells.

Benfica, missing suspended coach Jose Mourinho, began with urgency and drew level on aggregate when Rafa Silva finished from close range after a sharp move down the right. Real responded almost immediately as Federico Valverde pulled the ball back for Aurelien Tchouameni, who curled in the equalizer.

The game remained open. Arda Guler had a goal ruled out for offside midway through the first half, and the second period was played at a high tempo but with little precision as Madrid mislaid simple passes and the crowd grew restless.

Real was without Kylian Mbappe because of a knee injury. Benfica also missed forward Gianluca Prestianni, who was provisionally suspended following an alleged racist insult aimed at Vinicius in last week's first leg.

Madrid suffered a scare in the 77th minute when Raul Asencio was carried off after a heavy fall. As Benfica pushed forward in search of a goal, Valverde released Vinicius down the inside-left channel, and the Brazilian angled his finish past goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin to secure qualification.

Real Madrid will face either Manchester City or Sporting CP in the round of 16.

Elsewhere, Atalanta eliminate Borussia Dortmund with 4-3 aggregate win.

Lazar Samardzic sealed Atalanta's progress with the last kick of the game on a remarkable evening in Bergamo. La Dea wiped out a 2-0 first-leg deficit before the break, Gianluca Scamacca tapping in the fifth-minute opener before Davide Zappacosta's deflected shot wrong-footed Gregor Kobel late in the half.

It got even better for the hosts when Mario Pašalić met Marten de Roon's cross but Dortmund replied through substitute Karim Adeyemi's sublime curler on 75 minutes.

Extra time loomed until Atalanta won a penalty deep in added time, an incident that brought red cards for Ramy Bensebaini, Nico Schlotterbeck and Giorgio Scalvini. Samardžić made no mistake from the spot.

- IANS