Prestiani’s alleged racist attack on Vinicius in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 shocked the world of football. An image of a Benfica player talking to a Brazilian player with his shirt covering his mouth has gone unpunished. UEFA provisionally suspended the Argentine player who traveled to Madrid despite the sanction.
A photo of Prestiani and other teammates before boarding a plane for the Spanish capital confirms the Argentine’s presence in Spain. However, Benfica did not give up on their expectations for the player against Real Madrid, considering the trip that finally took place. The reason is that at the time the Portuguese club believed that the appeal it was planning against this sanction could be explicitly resolved.
Although Prestiani has been labeled a racist, he is by no means a racist. I can guarantee
Benfica president Rui Costa spoke to the media before the Portugal international’s plane departed for Madrid. “What was said and what was not said, I am not on the field. A lot can be said in a situation like this. We believe the words of the players. More than that, it is important to know the players at home. Prestiani has been labeled as a racist, but he is by no means a racist, I can guarantee you that,” Costa told A Bora.
“He spoke a week after the incident. It’s easy to explain. We had to communicate all the procedures to the fans and defend the players, but it was not justified for the president to talk about it every day. The actual verdict has not yet been handed down, there is a suspension, but there was no point in talking every day about a matter that is still pending. We were waiting for the process to be resolved,” added the Benfica president.
Costa points to Valverde
Before heading to Madrid, coach Rui Costa concluded: “One thing does not exclude the other, and I don’t want to use other cases to ignore the Prestiani situation, but we cannot forget what happened at home. There was a clear aggressiveness by Valverde that should have been excluded from this match.”
