Real Madrid player ratings vs. Benfica: Vinicius Junior shines amid alleged racism, Kylian Mbappe struggles

Real Madrid deservedly edged out Benfica 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League playoff clash, although the evening was overshadowed by an incident of alleged racism towards Vinicius Junior.

Shortly after scoring a wonderful opening goal and riling up the home crowd with his celebrations, the Brazilian appeared to accuse Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni of a racist comment, rushing over to referee Francois Letexier and triggering the anti-racism protocol.

Play eventually resumed after 10 minutes of chaos and scuffles, and Alvaro Arbeloa's men could - and probably should - have added to their tally, but they will take just the one-goal lead back to base.

Here, Sports Mole provides Real Madrid's player ratings from the first leg of their Champions League playoff with Benfica.

Real Madrid player ratings vs. Benfica: Vini Jr, Dean Huijsen excel in Lisbon

GOALKEEPER

Thibaut Courtois - 7/10

Produced an outrageous save to keep out Fredrik Aursnes's deflected strike in the first half and was a constant presence of calm, even if he did not have to do much else.

DEFENCE

Trent Alexander-Arnold - 7/10

At his creative best in the first half and should have had an assist, but Mbappe could not connect with his perfectly-weighted ball across. Couple of strong interceptions too.

Dean Huijsen - 8/10

Real Madrid's rearguard rock, the youngster made no fewer than 14 defensive contributions in Lisbon and also won all five of his ground duels - exemplary from such a juvenile player.

Antonio Rudiger - 7/10

Also stood tall when Arbeloa needed him to most - in the right place at the right time to clear the danger, every time.

Alvaro Carreras - 6/10

A frequent presence down the left-hand side, but did not have the attacking impact he may have hoped for.

MIDFIELD

Federico Valverde - 6/10

Stationed on the right of a midfield four, the tireless Federico Valverde was typically here, there and everywhere, but he played it safe with many of his passes.

Aurelien Tchouameni - 7/10

A good interception in the first half nearly led to a promising chance, and he was strong in the tackle and in the air all evening.

Good interception should have led to chance

Arda Guler - 6/10

Had a couple of sighters of goal but could not beat Anatoliy Trubin, and did his best to create chances from deep - not a lot came off though.

Eduardo Camavinga - 6/10

Created a couple of chances out on the left but also lost nine duels - swings and roundabouts.

ATTACK

Kylian Mbappe - 6/10

Three was not a magic number for Mbappe tonight - instead, that was the amount of big chances that the France international missed.

Did come up with the game-winning assist, but it was the simplest of passes to Vinicius, who did all of the hard work.

Vinicius Junior - 8/10

On an evening when we should have focused on Vinicius's wonderful winner, the headlines will undoubtedly focus on the disgraceful alleged abuse that the Brazilian suffered.

However, we can focus on the good for the sake of these ratings - the winger's sensational strike will go down as one of the goals of the season in the Champions League, but he did struggle to truly assert himself beyond that.