Real Madrid dropped by Mourinho's Benfica into Champions League playoffs round alongside PSG

Real Madrid was stunningly dumped into the knockout playoffs of the Champions League by its former coach José Mourinho — whose Benfica team advanced on a last-gasp goal by its goalkeeper — on Wednesday and will be joined there by title holder Paris Saint-Germain.

Madrid started play third in the 36-team standings and despite two goals by Kylian Mbappé lost 4-2 at Benfica and fell to ninth — one place below advancing direct to the round of 16.

Astonishingly, Benfica only advanced to the knockout phase in 24th place on goal difference because Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time with a dramatic header when Madrid was down to nine players. Red cards were shown minutes earlier for Raul Asencio and Rodrygo.

“This victory is historic and important," Mourinho said, adding of his goalkeeper: "We knew that he could do it. You have to put the ball there, but it’s an amazing goal for the guy.”

Trubin said it was a “crazy moment. I’m not used to scoring. I’m 24 years old and it’s the first time.”

Madrid fell out of the top-eight places when Sporting Lisbon got a stoppage-time goal in a 3-2 win at Athletic Bilbao.

“They have outplayed us," Real Madrid coach Álvaro Arbeloa said of Benfica. "We’ve been far from the version we should be.”

Sporting surprisingly joined Liverpool — which beat Qarabag 6-0 and got a goal from Mohamed Salah — Tottenham, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City in sealing top-eight finishes. Table-topping Arsenal, which completed a perfect eight-win program beating Kairat Almaty 3-2, and second-place Bayern Munich had already advanced to the round of 16 that starts in March.

PSG and Newcastle both started in the top eight but drew 1-1 in Paris which sent both falling in the standings to 11th and 12th. The game had an explosive start when Newcastle conceded a penalty for a handball in the first minute, and Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé's spot-kick was saved by Nick Pope.

Madrid, PSG, Newcastle and last year’s beaten finalist Inter Milan all will be in the qualifying playoffs draw Friday for teams that placed ninth through 24th.

Still, PSG went through the playoffs round a year ago in taking the longest path possible with two extra games in February toward its first European title.

“We don’t have to think about it too much,” said Vitinha, who gave PSG an eighth-minute lead. “We had the same problem last year, and then out of nowhere things changed and the ball started to go in.”

There is a 50-50 chance it will be Mourinho's Benfica against Real Madrid and Mbappé two more times next month.

The bracket for the playoffs means the ninth-place team, Madrid, can be drawn only against the team that placed either 23rd or 24th. That is, respectively, Bodo/Glimt or Benfica.

If Benfica is not paired with Madrid, then it will be the 10th-place team, Inter Milan — whom Mourinho led to the 2010 Champions League title. It is a remarkable renaissance for Mourinho, who lost his job at Fenerbahce in August for losing in the Champions League qualifying playoffs. Against Benfica.

Norwegian debutant Bodo/Glimt will be a popular addition to the knockout phase, claiming 23rd place by winning 2-1 at Atletico Madrid. That showed how crucial it was to beat Man City last week inside its Arctic Circle home.

Benfica’s late drama eliminated Marseille, which lost 3-0 at Club Brugge and dropped below the cutoff into 25th place with nine points.

Also in the playoffs are Qarabag, Brugge, Galatasaray and Olympiakos, plus Juventus and Atalanta from Italy.

Italian champion Napoli was ousted in 30th place after losing 3-2 at home to Chelsea.

At halftime Wednesday, the in-play standings showed Chelsea in 12th and Barcelona 13th, both heading for the playoffs.

Barcelona was trailing at home to lowly Copenhagen, whose goal was scored by 17-year-old Icelandic striker Viktor Dadason, who scored three times in his debut Champions League season.

Barcelona flipped the game in the second half of a 4-1 win with goals from a stellar forward line: Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Marcus Rashford.

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Sporting's Ivan Fresneda, front, celebrates after Alisson Santos scoring the third goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Sporting CP, in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

PSG's Goncalo Ramos, right, congratulates Newcastle's Yoane Wissa at the end of a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle in Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Benfica's head coach Jose Mourinho celebrates at the end of a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Benfica and Real Madrid, in Lisbon, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Benfica's head coach Jose Mourinho celebrates at the end of a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Benfica and Real Madrid, in Lisbon, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Arsenal's Viktor Gyoekeres scores his side's opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Arsenal and Kairat Almaty in London, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, left, scores the opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match Manchester City and Galatasaray in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

PSG's Vitinha celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle in Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Copenhagen's Vicktor Dabason celebrates with Jordan Larsson the opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Barcelona and Copenhagen in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Benfica's Tomas Araujo, center, goes for a header against Real Madrid's Dean Huijsen, left, during a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Benfica and Real Madrid, in Lisbon, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Newcastle's Yoane Wissa, center, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League soccer match between Newcastle and Paris Saint-Germain in Newcastle, England, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, right, and Glimt's Jostein Gundersen battle for the ball during the Champions League soccer match between Bodo/Glimt and Manchester City in Bodo, Norway, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Fredrik Varfjell/NTB via AP)

Benfica's head coach Jose Mourinho gives instructions during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Juventus and SL Benfica in Turin, Italy, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, right, celebrates with his teammate Marcus Rashford after scoring his side's fourth goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Slavia Prague and Barcelona in Prague, Czech Republic, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, right, celebrates after scoring his side's first goal with Vitinha during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Sporting CP and Paris Saint-Germain, in Lisbon, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

PARIS (AP) — Valentino’s first couture show since house founder Valentino Garavani’s funeral in Rome opened under a somber shadow, with many guests fresh from the ceremony — then snapped it off with a jolt of pure theater.

VIP guests, including Sir Elton John and Kirsten Dunst, were guided through near-darkness to their “seats”: simple stools set against circular pods, each punctured by a small kinky-feeling viewing window.

When the show began, the blinds lifted; the classical music soundtrack cut by the sharp punctuation of barking dogs.

Inside the hubs, models appeared like mannequins behind glass — private viewing holes turned into a couture peep show.

The white, sterile-lit staging leaned into the idea of a curated gaze.

Each guest saw a slice, not always the whole: a face, a shoulder, a shimmer of fabric, then the next.

The set read like a sterilized, futuristic cell — clean, white, clinical — made more unsettling by the soundscape, which kept slipping from elegance into angry animal sounds.

It was a clever piece of showcraft: creative director Alessandro Michele, a maximalist by instinct, using restriction as a hook.

He didn’t flood the room with spectacle; he rationed it.

The often dazzling clothes, however, didn't always match the set’s ambition.

Michele delivered disco sheen — sparkle, gems, bedazzled headwear and layered gold collars with a faint circus edge — but the couture itself felt comparatively restrained, even cautious.

There were strong flashes: bold sleeves that swelled toward leg-of-mutton proportions; sequined surfaces that caught the light with that Valentino polish; and occasional provocation in the way the body was framed.

The skirts of giant billowing dresses nicely overwhelmed the human form.

But for a designer known for excess, the collection often played it safe.

Front row heat underlined the stakes.

The room pulled in a heavy mix of celebrity and brand power, from Dakota Johnson to Lily Allen and Tyla, plus global ambassadors and high-wattage fashion regulars.

The atmosphere said “event.”

The collection said “reset”: a designer calibrating his volume, testing how far he can bend Valentino’s couture codes without breaking them.

Michele can stage a show — that much is settled.

For Suzy Menkes, the emotion around this Valentino couture show was immediate.

Coming straight from Garavani’s funeral in Rome to Paris couture week, the fashion industry doyenne and former International Herald Tribune fashion critic said “people do feel emotional” because “it is an end of an era.”

She described a wider pattern, too: “one designer or elderly designer after another” has “gently disappeared.” But this, she suggested, felt like “a special one” — not only inside the industry, but beyond it.

Menkes said Valentino was “a designer that everybody could understand,” with “so many clients and famous people” that it wasn’t just “those who were contracted to fashion who knew of him.”

Asked about her own history with Valentino, she traced it back “about 45 years ago,” when she was a junior journalist — “he didn’t pay much attention” to her, she recalled, though he was “always polite,” surrounded by “an enormous number of people” from fashion and “social society.”

She acknowledged that “we’ve got some really good designers who are taking over and doing a terrific job,” but insisted the transition doesn’t feel identical: “it’s not the same character… it doesn’t seem to be the same person who was there before.”

Andrea Lattanzi, left, and Romana Maggiora Vergano pose for photographers upon arrival at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Elton John, center, and David Furnish, right, arrive at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Rei, left, and Liz from the group IVE pose for photographers upon arrival at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Elton John, center, and David Furnish, right, depart the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Tyla poses for photographers upon arrival at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)