NEW YORK, Switzerland (AP) – UEFA on Friday suspended Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni for six games for verbally abusing Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during a Champions League game earlier this season.
UEFA said in a statement that Prestiani’s comments were a “discriminatory (i.e. homophobic) act”.
UEFA announced that three of those six matches had been suspended and one match had already been given a provisional sanction. This means Prestianni will initially only be suspended for two more games, but UEFA says his suspension could also include playing for Argentina at the World Cup if he is selected for June’s tournament.
Argentina’s first two games will be against Algeria in Kansas City on June 17, then five days later against Austria in Arlington.
The 20-year-old winger made his first and only appearance for Argentina in a friendly in November.
If he is not selected to represent Argentina in the North American World Cup, he will be suspended from playing in UEFA club competitions.
The incident occurred during a match in Lisbon in February.
After the Brazilian forward scored and was celebrated at Benfica’s corner flag, the match was stopped for nearly 10 minutes, leaving local fans and players upset. After confronting Prestiani, Vinicius accused the Argentine player of calling him a “monkey”.
Prestiani reportedly denied using the Spanish word “mono,” which means “monkey,” but admitted he used a homophobic slur toward Vinicius.
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