Real Madrid got a rematch they probably didn't want. The 2025/26 UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off draw took place at 12:00 CET on Friday 30 January 2026, and the Spanish giants learned their fate: they'll face Benfica once more after the Portuguese club knocked them out of automatic qualification just two days earlier.
Real Madrid's path to the playoffs was sealed in dramatic fashion. Mourinho's Benfica beat the Spanish giants 4-2 with a last-minute header from the Portuguese club's keeper Anatoliy Trubin on January 28th, a result that forced them into the extra knockout phase. The record 15-time European champions fell to a 4-2 defeat at Jose Mourinho's Benfica on Wednesday, finishing ninth in the league phase table. Kylian Mbappe told reporters after: "The problem is we aren't consistent in our play, you can't have one day [playing well] and another not, a champion team does not do that." See the full breakdown of that dramatic match here.
Now there's a twist: they'll face the same Benfica team that eliminated them just days ago. This isn't the first time these clubs have met in European competition—the clubs played each other in the 1962 European Cup final, with Benfica winning 5-3 to claim back-to-back titles. And Benfica's coach? Jose Mourinho, 63, returned to the Lisbon giants for a second spell as coach in September. He was in charge of Real from 2010 to 2013 and won one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey while also taking them to the Champions League semifinals in each of his three campaigns.
The two-legged playoff ties will take place in February, with the winners advancing to the last 16 in March. 17/02: Benfica vs Real Madrid for the first leg, then 25/02: Real Madrid vs Benfica for the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. There's no room for error in this mini-series—only the winner advances. The eight clubs that prevail in the knockout phase play-offs progress to the round of 16, the draw for which takes place on Friday 27 February 2026.