The match in Lisbon, Portugal, was halted five minutes into the second half, shortly after Vinicius gave the away side a 1-0 lead in the first leg of the knockout playoffs.
Cameras picked up the 25-year-old telling French referee Francois Letexier he had been targeted in a comment made to him by Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni.
Prestianni has denied making a racist slur, claiming the Madrid player "misinterpreted what he thought he heard".
The match was stopped for 11 minutes as Vinicius went to the sidelines at the Estadio da Luz.
Both coaches, Benfica's Jose Mourinho and Madrid's Alvaro Arbeloa, talked to him at one point.
It appears Benfica players were not happy with the forward because he celebrated his goal by dancing in front of the corner flag, and some went to confront him.
Vinicius had been shown a yellow card after the celebration.
After the complaint, Letexier responded by crossing his arms in front of his face, activating FIFA's anti-racism protocol and stopping the match.
Real's players threatened to leave the pitch as tensions rose, but the referee eventually allowed the match to resume.
Vinicius: Racists are cowards
Vinicius has repeatedly suffered racism in Spain during games. In a message on Instagram after the match, he said: "Nothing that happened here today was new in my life and my family's."
"Racists are, above all, cowards," he added.
"They need to put their shirts over their mouths to demonstrate how weak they are.
"But they have, on their side, the protection of others who, theoretically, have the obligation to punish."
He described the protocol enforced by the referee as serving "no purpose", and said he didn't understand why he was booked for his celebration.
"I don't like appearing in situations like this, even more so after a great victory and when the headlines have to be about Real Madrid, but it's necessary," he said.
In a message on his own Instagram, Prestianni said: "I want to clarify that at no point did I direct racist insults at the player Vinicius Junior, who unfortunately misinterpreted what he thought he heard.
"I have never been racist towards anyone, and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players."
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Player 'could be banned' if found guilty
The teams are due to go to Madrid to play the second leg, with the Spanish side 1-0 up, but Sky News' sports correspondent Rob Harris said there could be sanctions.
"There can be a ban for the player, if he's found guilty of the racial abuse of Vinicius," he explained.
"Vinicius himself had warned about facing racism in the past, particularly in Spain... and had said that he would be prepared to walk off... if he faced abuse.
"Football often talks about sending out a message, and imposing those bans, to hopefully try to stamp out the scourge of racism. But how often are we still talking about this in football?"
'It's disgusting,' says England star
After the game, teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold, a former Liverpool and England player, told Amazon Prime: "What's happened tonight is a disgrace to football. It's overshadowed the performance, especially after such an amazing goal.
"Vini has been subjected to this a few times throughout his career, there's no place for it in football or society. It's disgusting."
Mourinho comments draw criticism
Speaking about the incident after the match, Benfica manager Mourinho claimed he was told different things by Vinicius and Prestianni, and expressed his belief that the Madrid forward's celebration had been disrespectful.
"I told him [Vinicius] when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back," Mourinho told Amazon Prime.
"They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don't believe in one or another. I want to be an independent."
The 63-year-old former Real and Chelsea boss then appeared to reference previous incidents in which the Brazilian player had been subject to racist abuse during games.
Clarence Seedorf, a former Real Madrid midfielder who was working as a pundit at the match, said Mourinho had made "a big mistake" with his comments.
Seedorf said on Amazon Prime: "I think he [Mourinho] made a big mistake today to justify racial abuse, and I'm not saying that was the case today, but he mentioned something more than today.
"He said wherever he goes these things happen, so he's saying it's OK when Vinicius provokes you, that is it OK to be racist, and I think that is very wrong.
"We should never, ever justify racial abuse."
Former prime minister Gordon Brown last week called for UK police to "urgently" re-examine claims women or girls were trafficked to the country aboard flights.
In an article for the New Statesman, Mr Brown said the recently published files relating to Jeffrey Epstein showed the paedophile financier's jet making 90 flights to or from UK airports, including 15 after his 2008 sex offence conviction.
A spokesperson for Essex Police said: "We are assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the US DoJ [Department of Justice] Epstein files."
Stansted Airport said: "All private aircraft at London Stansted operate through independent Fixed Base Operators, which handle all aspects of private and corporate aviation in line with regulatory requirements. All immigration and customs checks for passengers arriving on private aircraft are carried out directly by Border Force.
"They use entirely independent terminals not operated by London Stansted and no private jet passengers enter the main airport terminal. The airport does not manage or have any visibility of passenger arrangements on privately operated aircraft."
Mr Brown also said that information in the Epstein files suggested "a number of British girls were on 90 Epstein flights organised from UK airports on what was called his [Epstein's] 'Lolita Express'".
The former politician demanded a full inquiry and wrote: "I have asked the Met urgently to re-examine their decision-making in their investigation and the subsequent reviews."
He claimed the files showed in "graphic detail" how Epstein was flying "in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia" to Stansted, where "women were transferred from one Epstein plane to another", adding they "would not need British visas".
He said it also seemed as though UK authorities "never knew what was happening" and "had little or no idea who was being trafficked through our country".
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The statement from Essex Police comes after the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said that a national group had been set up to support UK police forces, which are "assessing allegations" following the publication of the Epstein files.
A spokesperson for the NPCC said: "A national coordination group has been set up to support a small number of forces assessing allegations that have emerged following the publication of the US DoJ Epstein files."
Earlier this month, Thames Valley Police confirmed it was assessing claims Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential reports from his role as the UK's trade envoy with Jeffrey Epstein.
The claims being examined by Thames Valley Police are separate from the assessment of flights by Essex Police.
Andrew has previously denied any wrongdoing over his Epstein links, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations. Being named in the files does not suggest wrongdoing.
Before a new parole review last month he fired his lawyer and refused to take any part in the process, angry that his request for a public hearing had been rejected.
In a letter to Sky News, the man who has spent half a century in jail wrote: "Sacked the legal team!"
Perhaps not the wisest move so close to the hearing.
Read more: Who is Charles Bronson?
He went on to say, in colourful language, that he'd have nothing to do with "the farcical jam roll" (parole) and asked: "What are they afraid of? The truth getting out?"
Since then, a new solicitor appears to have got a postponement of the review until today, when the Parole Board panel will assess his application.
It's essentially a paper exercise, with the panel considering written statements from prison staff, psychiatrists, probation staff and Bronson's legal team.
Its purpose is to decide if a prisoner is safe to be freed. Does he pose a risk to the public and, if he does, is it low enough to be manageable with restrictions on his movements and activities?
The panel could decide to free Bronson, recommend a move to an open prison, or delay things and hold an oral hearing.
Five decades behind bars
Bronson, 73, has spent 52 years in jail, much of it in solitary confinement, and this is his ninth appeal to the Parole Board.
He was jailed for seven years for armed robbery in 1974 and, but for two brief periods of freedom, has been locked up ever since because of repeated violent attacks on staff and other inmates.
In 1999, he took a prison art teacher hostage and got a life sentence, with a minimum three years to serve.
His last conviction, for assaulting a prison governor, was in 2014.
I showed Bronson's letter to Bob Johnson, the psychiatrist who treated him 30 years ago.
He knows the prisoner better than most.
Was Bronson, who now calls himself Charles Salvador, once again scuppering his chances of parole by refusing to take part in any potential oral hearing?
"No, I don't think so at all," said Dr Johnson. "I think he's very angry, and I don't see how you could go through what he's gone through and not be angry.
"The Parole Board doesn't need to hear from him to make its decision.
"He's very provocative. I don't think he means it when he says he doesn't want anything to do with his review. Very clearly, he enjoys the battle. He likes sticking up for himself.
"He asks what are they afraid of, the truth? That's a very good question. And the truth is that he is being unjustifiably punished. What this is…he's 73 years, and in solitary confinement.
"I mean, it's unbelievable when you think what inner strength this man must have to survive."
'One simple dream'
Dr Johnson believes Bronson is institutionalised but could cope on the outside with the help of friends, and with his artwork to sustain him and earn him money.
Bronson's letter to Sky News was accompanied by four of his trademark tormented drawings, one calling for an end to his imprisonment.
His naive-style artwork is vivid and grim with repetitive themes of madness, restraint, and despair, but it is not entirely without hope. He wrote beneath an early drawing: "God save our dreams. It's all we have left. One simple dream will bring you through all this misery."
At Bronson's last parole hearing three years ago, the board members accepted his behaviour had improved.
They concluded he wasn't ready for a move to an open prison, but suggested his behaviour should be tested in a less restrictive regime, as the start of a slow process towards release.
But nothing much has changed.
Since then, Bronson's been moved to another jail, again high security, and he's still segregated and locked up on his own 23 hours a day.
Reducing his security rating and testing him with other inmates is a decision for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Will it ever allow it? The MoJ won't comment on individual prisoners.
John Podmore, once the governor at Belmarsh prison, said he did move Bronson to a normal cell and worked with him to curb his outbursts. It was 30 years ago, and the experiment lasted only a few weeks.
'It's a Catch-22'
"I got a phone call, telling me Charlie had taken the Iraqi prisoners hostage," he said. "He had them hog-tied and very frightened. It was horrendous. A bit of me was kind of heartbroken because our efforts had failed."
While the incident was unfolding, Mr Podmore had to leave the prison and hand over command as his father had died suddenly.
Bronson later sent him a card expressing condolences, the only prisoner to do so.
"He wrote that he was sorry he had caused me so much trouble," Mr Podmore said.
On Bronson's chances of a release, Mr Podmore said: "The Parole Board recommended last time what I was trying to do 30 years ago, but it's a Catch-22 situation.
"He's not being moved because of his propensity for violence, but unless he's moved, he can't demonstrate he has changed."
What hope of a 'freedom party'?
The former governor believes Bronson's chances of ever being released are diminishing, partly because of the current climate inside the prison system.
"These days you're got the added dimension of serious organised crime, the level of drugs, radicalisation, the general chaos in the system, which I think is being handled badly by governments of all colours.
"It makes it a thousand times more difficult. There's such a level of indiscipline around the system, the level of provocation Bronson is likely to face is now 10 times what it would have been 30 years ago."
Despite his despair at the parole system, Bronson hasn't given up hope of release.
His letter included an invitation to his "freedom party".
He said it will be held in 2028, adding: "Don't be late."
It marks a significant setback for detectives investigating the case of the missing 84-year-old, who is the mother of NBC's Today show presenter Savannah Guthrie.
She was last seen on 31 January when her family dropped her off at her home near Tucson, Arizona, following dinner with them. The case has since gripped America and beyond.
Authorities announced they had obtained a DNA sample from a glove found near the property on Sunday.
The glove appeared to match the pair worn by a masked prowler seen in doorbell camera footage before Nancy was abducted, and forensic experts hoped to find a match on a national DNA database.
It was announced on Tuesday that no match had been found.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said he believes the man in the doorbell video is the likely perpetrator of the abduction and the primary person authorities are looking for.
The Guthrie family, who have released several public appeals for help, have been ruled out as suspects and are holding out hope that Nancy is still alive.
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The disappearance is still being treated by police and the FBI as an apparent kidnapping for ransom.
Mr Nanos has said Nancy, who has a pacemaker, was extremely limited in her physical mobility and could not have left her home unassisted, leading investigators to believe she had been taken against her will early on.
Almost 80% of private prescriptions are for female patients, according to a survey by The Health Foundation, while the highest uptake by age group across both genders are those aged 30 to 49.
It also showed people in the most deprived areas were around a third less likely to be getting the jabs than those in the least deprived, despite the former having far higher obesity levels.
People in poorer areas also tend to start treatment when they are heavier - another sign of inequality.
The data covered 113,630 people who accessed the drugs privately between November 2024 and October 2024.
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It comes as the NHS works on a phased rollout of Mounjaro, which will take 12 years.
Some 220,000 patients have been prioritised for the first three years. Those eligible for treatment on the NHS have included those with a body mass index over 40 and illnesses such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
The vast majority of people taking the jabs in the UK are paying for them privately - and recent research suggests those who take them may need to do so for life.
An NHS spokesperson said it was right those "in the greatest clinical need" were prioritised for treatment, and it was "exploring ways to accelerate the offering so that eligible people can benefit from safe and effective treatment wherever they live in England".
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Samantha Field, from The Health Foundation, warned: "With an estimated 2.4 million people in the UK already prescribed weight loss medications, our findings reveal a stark divide."
With access to the drugs far from equal, she said it's "more important than ever" that the government focuses on preventable measures like healthy eating.
A ban on junk food adverts covering soft drinks, chocolate and even some porridges came into force last month.
The Health Foundation's survey was carried out with online weight management provider Voy.