Memorable night for Portuguese football as Benfica and Sporting pull off dramatic wins in Champions League | OneFootball

Anatoliy Trubin, Benfica’s players and their fans celebrate the goalkeeper’s incredible last-gasp winner. (Photo: Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images)

No silverware was won, but 28 January 2026 is a night that will go down in Portuguese football folklore.

Fans of Benfica and Sporting ended the league phase of the Champions League in euphoria after coming from behind against Real Madrid and Athletic Club respectively to obtain the results they needed to achieve their aims at the start of the night.

Benfica 4-2 Real Madrid – Eagles do the impossible!

For Benfica in particular, a match played in the backdrop of constant torrential rain could not have been more dramatic. Sitting on just six points at kick-off, Benfica’s chances of making into the playoffs were slim, not least because as well as relying on a series of other results going their way, they had to deal with the small matter of beating Real Madrid in the Portuguese capital.

And when Kylian Mbappé headed Real in front against the run of play in the 30th minute it looked all over for Benfica. But by half time the Eagles had turned it around thanks to goals from man-of-the-match Andreas Schjelderup and a Pavlidis penalty, and the home team were fully deserving of the lead having missed a host of glaring opportunities to score more goals.

Schjelderup and Trubin heroics

In the second half Schjelderup and Mbappé scored again, but as the game went into stoppage time Benfica were out of the playoff places. Hope was kept alive when Raul Asencio and Rodrygo were both sent off for second yellow cards, and by that stage news had got through to the players that one more goal would suffice to stay in the competition.

A last throw of the dice saw goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin going up for a late free kick and the fans could scarcely believe it when the Ukrainian sent a powerful header into the net to book Benfica’s place in the playoffs and trigger wild scenes of celebration.

Trubin heads in Benfica’s fourth goal to qualify Benfica for the Champions League playoffs. (Photo: Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images)

Benfica 4-2 Real Madrid match report, by Sahir Bhojwani at the Estádio da Luz.

Athletic Club 2-3 Sporting – Lions round off superb campaign in style

Sporting’s Ousmane Diomande celebrates scoring his first-half equaliser. (Photo: Ion Alcoba Beitia/Getty Images)

It’s always a tough ask for any Portuguese club to finish in the top eight of the first phase of the newfangled Champions League, given the huge difference in finances between the best Primeira Liga clubs and the best teams from wealthier countries.

And when the draw dictated that Sporting would have to play Napoli, Juventus and Bayern Munich away, and European champions PSG at home, even the most optimistic Sporting fan would have been content if the Lions managed to qualify for the playoffs.

Yet, going into the final round of matches in 10th position, Sporting’s solid campaign, highlighted by last week’s 2-1 victory over reigning European champions PSG at Alvalade, had opened up the possibility of direct progress to the round of sixteen.

But in Bilbao that looked unlikely for the first hour as Athletic Club, needing a win to make the playoffs, twice took the lead through Oihan Sancet and Gorka Guruzeta, Ousmane Diomande equalising in between.

Rui Borges makes the right moves

The match turned with a triple substitution made by Sporting coach Rui Borges in the 54th minute, Eduardo Quaresma, Hidemasa Morita and Pedro Gonçalves entering the fray for Diomande, João Simões and Daniel Bragança respectively.

The Portuguese team at last got their attacking game going, Francisco Trincão finishing off a slick move to make it 2-2 with half an hour remaining.

Geny Catamo had a shot well saved by Unai Simón and a penalty awarded to Sporting was chalked off after a VAR review.

With both exhausted teams going for the win in a wide-open stoppage time period, it was Sporting who got the all-important goal, late substitute Alisson Santos firing into the net on the follow-up after Simón had denied Luis Suárez.

Sporting’s players, entire delegation on the bench and their fans in the stands celebrated wildly. A few minutes later the intense rush of dopamine would be replicated back in Lisbon at cross-town rivals Benfica.

For one night at least, both Lisbon clubs will put their fierce rivalry aside, metaphorically pat each other on the back, and mutter in unison –