Benfica Portugal news Screengrab via X
By Matt Yoder on

The final day of action in the Champions League league stage brought a ton of drama and intrigue with 36 teams playing simultaneously across 18 matches to decide which 24 teams advanced to the knockout round. And nothing could top what happened between Benfica and Real Madrid.

The Portugese powerhouse found themselves leading 3-2 against Real late into stoppage time. However, they still needed to score one more goal despite the win to advance to the playoff round because Marseille were ahead of them for the final spot on goal difference.

Incredibly, a late free kick was headed into the net by Ukranian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, sparking wild celebrations in Lisbon on the pitch and in the stands as Benfica advanced in the most astonishing way possible.

But that wasn’t the only place where the celebrations were happening. The Benfica goal was felt throughout the country, even on a newscast.

Portugese news network Now was discussing a storm with the banner headline saying “many areas are still without electricity.” Cardinal Americo Aguiar from the Portugese Catholic Church was the guest on the program to discuss the humanitarian situation. That’s when a huge scream was heard from off the screen.

Both men paused with a momentary look of fright, but then laughed once they realized that what they heard was people cheering Benfica’s fourth goal.

There is nothing quite like European soccer celebrations as we’ve seen many times. Usually in American sports broadcasting, meteorologists and news networks take it very seriously whenever people complain about interruptions to live sporting events. In Europe, they obviously don’t have the same concerns.

About Matt Yoder

View all posts by Matt Yoder