Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored in the eighth minute of added time against Real Madrid to seal a 4-2 win and keep his team in the UEFA Champions League on a dramatic final night of the league phase.
The Portuguese side, managed by Jose Mourinho, were leading Madrid 3-2 as the game moved into the final seconds. However, results elsewhere meant that Benfica needed to increase their goal difference in order to climb into 24th place and claim a spot in the play-off round.
This equation prompted Trubin to swap his own 18-yard box for the Madrid penalty area when his side were awarded a free-kick deep into added time.
The 6ft 6in Ukrainian then showed the attacking instincts of a seasoned striker as he rose above multiple Madrid defenders and diverted Fredrik Aursnes’ cross past Thibaut Courtois.
Benfica’s dramatic fourth goal moved them into 24th place at the expense of Marseille.
Both Benfica and Marseille, who lost 3-0 at Club Brugge on Wednesday night, finished with nine points from their eight games, but Benfica edged ahead on the relevant tie-breaking criteria.
Nine-man Real Madrid miss out on top-eight finish
Trubin’s memorable goal came shortly after Real Madrid had been reduced to nine men, with Raul Asencio and Rodrygo both picking up second yellow cards earlier in added time.
Rodrygo’s second booking of the night was for dissent, summing up the frustration among a Madrid team who missed the chance to qualify directly for the round of 16.
Madrid finished ninth in the league-phase table, one point behind Manchester City in eighth. Madrid had a better goal difference than City, who beat Galatasaray 2-0 at the Etihad in their final game of the round. Therefore, a draw would have been enough to seal the Spanish giants a place in the top eight.
They had looked well on course to get the result they needed when Kylian Mbappe boosted his bid to break Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League record for goals in a single season by breaking the deadlock in Portugal after 30 minutes.
But two goals from Andreas Schjelderup either side of a Vangelis Pavlidis penalty then turned the game in Benfica’s favour. Mbappe pulled one back for Madrid just before the hour mark, only for his team’s fate to be sealed by Trubin with what proved to be the final action of the match.
Meanwhile, Arsenal finished top of the Champions League’s league phase table with a perfect record of eight wins from eight games.
Champions League table
| Team | MP | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Arsenal | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 24 |
| 2. Bayern Munich | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 21 |
| 3. Liverpool | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 18 |
| 4. Tottenham | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 17 |
| 5. Barcelona | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 16 |
| 6. Chelsea | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 16 |
| 7. Sporting | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 16 |
| 8. Man City | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 16 |
| 9. Real Madrid | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 15 |
| 10. Inter Milan | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 15 |
| 11. PSG | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| 12. Newcastle | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| 13. Juventus | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 13 |
| 14. Atletico Madrid | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| 15. Atalanta | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| 16. Leverkusen | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -1 | 12 |
| 17. Dortmund | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 18. Olympiacos | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | -4 | 11 |
| 19. Club Brugge | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -2 | 10 |
| 20. Galatasaray | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -2 | 10 |
| 21. Monaco | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | -6 | 10 |
| 22. Qarabag | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -8 | 10 |
| 23. Bodo/Glimt | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | -1 | 9 |
| 24. Benfica | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -2 | 9 |
| 25. Marseille | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -3 | 9 |
| 26. Pafos | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | -3 | 9 |
| 27. Union SG | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -9 | 9 |
| 28. PSV | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| 29. Athletic Bilbao | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -5 | 8 |
| 30. Napoli | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -6 | 8 |
| 31. Copenhagen | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -9 | 8 |
| 32. Ajax | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -13 | 6 |
| 33. Frankfurt | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -11 | 4 |
| 34. Slavia Prague | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | -14 | 3 |
| 35. Villarreal | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | -13 | 1 |
| 36. Kairat | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | -15 | 1 |
How many goalkeepers have scored in the UEFA Champions League?
Trubin became only the fifth goalkeeper to score in the Champions League proper, and just the third to do so from open play.
German goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt leads the way with three goals in the competition, all of which came from the penalty spot for Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich — remarkably, each of them against Juventus.
Vincent Enyeama also scored from the spot for Hapoel Tel-Aviv against Lyon in 2010, while Sinan Bolat and Ivan Provedel both netted dramatic stoppage-time headers to rescue 1-1 draws for Standard Liege and Lazio respectively.
Goals by goalkeepers in the UEFA Champions League proper
| Goalkeeper | Club | Opponent | Date | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hans-Jorg Butt | Hamburg | Juventus | 13 Sep 2000 | Penalty |
| Hans-Jorg Butt | Bayer Leverkusen | Juventus | 12 Mar 2002 | Penalty |
| Hans-Jorg Butt | Bayern Munich | Juventus | 8 Dec 2009 | Penalty |
| Sinan Bolat | Standard Liege | AZ Alkmaar | 9 Dec 2009 | Header |
| Vincent Enyeama | Hapoel Tel-Aviv | Lyon | 29 Sep 2010 | Penalty |
| Ivan Provedel | Lazio | Atletico Madrid | 19 Sep 2023 | Header |
| Anatoliy Trubin | Benfica | Real Madrid | 28 Jan 2026 | Header |
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