Footage shows Rudiger tried to defuse the situation during Vinicius celebration of goal 

A day after Real Madrid´s win over Benfica in the first leg of the playoff round in the Champions League, new headlines and new images are being unveiled as the world looks for answers for an alleged racial attack on Vinicius. Now footage new footage has been released of Antonio Rüdiger trying to calm the waters even before the controversy took place.

From a cauldron to chaos

The Estadio da Luz was a cauldron of anticipation and emotion even before things went south ten minutes into the second half. Before the goal, before the controversy, there was a fantastic atmosphere as the Champions League anthem rang around Lisbon. It was a massive matchup for both sides in the first leg of the playoff round, and Benfica´s fans were trying to lift their team to a second victory over Los Blancos in as many matchdays.

Then, in the 50th minute all hell broke loose in Lisbon. Vinicius scored a wonder goal and went to celebrate in the corner doing a bit of a dance with the corner flag. His teammates surrounded him to celebrate the goal, and one of those teammates was Antonio Rüdiger.

Rüdiger was one of the last ones to join the huddle of players in front of the Benfica fans, as objects hurled from the stands reigned down near the players. The Madrid center back raised his hand to the fans urging them to stop before then waving his teammates back to the other half of the pitch.

Rüdiger called for calm

This wasn’t seen during the live broadcast of the match. It was posted on social media after the match ended, and you see Rüdiger trying to calm the waters before the storm eventually hit.

Just moments later Gianluca Prestianni came face to face with Vinicius who was shown a yellow card. The two continued the back and forth until the Argentinian midfielder put his shirt over his mount and according to Vinicius racial abused him.

The game was paused after the Brazilian brought the incident to referee´s attention, and there was a threat of the Madrid players leaving the pitch. Play eventually continued after UEFA´s mandatory pause whenever there is an incident involving racism. Los Blancos went on to win 1-0 as they protected the their one goal lead that Vinicius put on the board in the 50th minute. The two teams are set for a return leg in the Bernabeu on Wednesday, February 25.

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