Tomorrow, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium will be the stage for a heated match between Real Madrid and their guest, Benfica, following a racist controversy that accompanied the first leg. Meanwhile, Italian football giants Inter Milan and Juventus seek to avoid an early exit in the Champions League round of 16 playoffs. Inter will face Norwegian Bodo/Glimt today, while Juventus will meet Turkish Galatasaray tomorrow at the same time. In Madrid, the atmosphere is expected to be quite tense against the Benfica players, specifically the Argentine duo of Juan Foyth and Nicolás Otamendi. This comes after a cloud of tension hovered over the Lisbon match, which ended in a win for the 'Merengues' thanks to a goal from Vinícius Júnior, after the latter accused Foyth of directing a racist slur by calling him a 'monkey'. The European Football Association (UEFA) subsequently opened an investigation the next day, with severe penalties possible for the young Benfica player. Benfica, led by former Real coach José Mourinho, will aim for a similar surprise to their historic 4-2 victory over the Madrid giant in Lisbon, which secured their qualification at the time. However, the task for Mourinho's men in Madrid will not be easy, especially as Benfica has a poor record away from home (winning only once out of four matches played in the group stage of the continental competition). Inter Milan faces a clear and unambiguous task: to achieve a resounding victory over its guest, the little-known Norwegian Bodo/Glimt, at the San Siro, to overturn their 1-3 deficit from the first leg and avoid a humiliating exit for themselves and their Romanian coach, Cristian Chivu. 'Nerazzurri' will look to limit the danger of the Norwegian team on the counter-attack, this after they scored two goals within three minutes in the first leg, which was enough to turn the score from 1-1 to 3-1. The Lombard club will need to demonstrate absolute attacking presence, which it is capable of doing, especially as it has scored 13 goals in its last five matches across all competitions and has several attacking options in this regard. As for the other Italian club, Juventus, its task is more delicate and difficult, as it must make up for its 2-5 defeat in the first leg.
