First off – yes, we know it’s probably not what most people are talking about in the wake of Real Madrid’s victory over Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but the kit selections are still worthy of remark, to our minds.
Last month, when goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s late goal gave Benfica the 4-2 win they needed against Madrid to qualify for the play-off round, the visitors were in their dark navy change kit.
Nothing hugely remarkable there – the Spanish club prefer to change fully away from all-white in the event of a shorts clash.
Back in the 1989 semi-final for instance, Milan wore black shorts and socks at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu – one of the first instances, if not the first – but for the return leg (the one four days after the Hillsborough disaster, when referee Alexis Ponnet paused play after six minutes for a minute’s silence and the Italian fans sang You’ll Never Walk Alone), Madrid were in all-blue as 5-0 loss eliminated them and extended their drought in the competition to 23 years.
Sometimes, though, they have no option. This season, neither the dark blue second kit or the brighter blue third could be used at Real Oviedo and so a mashup had to be suffered (though the navy socks were allowed against the hosts’ royal sets).
On Tuesday night, perhaps keen to avoid the bad recent memories of the defeat that denied them a top-eight place and automatic passage to the last 16, they opted for the third kit on their return to Estádio da Luz and the change paid dividends as Vinícius Júnior’s goal was the only one.
Incidentally, a nice detail on the kit – and one which we have included, but it’s probably hard to see – is that, like the adidas shoe boxes with which it shares similarity of shade, the white stripes have jagged edges.
The sides will renew acquaintances next week in Madrid (the stadium is now officially known as just Bernabéu – I can imagine Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker in The Social Network telling Florentino Pérez, “It’s cleaner”) and one would expect Benfica to be in all-red.
Since their qualifier against Nice, it will be a 13th straight European game this season in their home shirts – a benefit, perhaps, of having a third shirt that solves none of the issues that the away cannot.
