Benfica’s Gianluca Prestiani has spoken out about allegations of racist abuse against Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, with his club releasing a video of the incident.
Benfica shared a video of the incident (Image: X/@SLBenfica)
Benfica’s Gianluca Prestiani has denied racism towards Vinicius Junior, claiming the Real Madrid star had “misunderstood” his comments. The Champions League play-off first leg between the two teams was called off on Tuesday night after Vinicius reported suspected racist abuse to the referee.
After Vinicius put Real 1-0 up in the 50th minute at the Estadio da Luz, over-the-top celebrations were planned in front of the home fans, who threw things in his direction. Just as the match was about to kick off, Vinicius ran to referee François Letexier and reported that he had been racially abused.
The Brazilian winger accused Argentina international Prestianni of being racist towards him near the center circle and followed his team-mates off the pitch. The match was stopped for 10 minutes and restarted with Real winning 1-0.
Vinicius later posted a statement on social media saying, “Racists are cowards above all else. They need to put their shirts over their mouths to prove how weak they are. But they have the protection of others who, in theory, are obligated to punish them.
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read more: Mark Clattenburg’s comments on Vinicius Jr.’s alleged racist abuse spark massive backlashread more: Trent Alexander-Arnold denounces racist abuse allegations against Vinicius Jr. ‘Shameful’
“What happened here is nothing new in my life or in the life of my family. I got a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t know why. On the other hand, it didn’t help anything, it was just a poor procedure. I don’t like appearing in situations like this, especially when the headlines have to be about Real Madrid after a big win, but it’s necessary.”
Prestiani also posted on social media: “To be clear, I never made any direct racist insults towards Vinicius Junior. Unfortunately, the player misunderstood what he thought he heard. I have never been a racist and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players.” Benfica shared it with the comment: “Together, by your side.”
Meanwhile, Benfica also took the notable step of uploading a video of the incident taken from the sideline, showing the moment Prestiani pulls his shirt over his face before saying something to Vinicius.
The Portuguese club used it as supposed evidence that Vinicius’ teammates were unable to hear the words, despite the proximity of Eduardo Camavinga and Kylian Mbappe.
Benfica wrote: “As the image shows, given the distance there is no way Real Madrid’s players could not have heard what they claim to have heard.”
Their comments echoed those of manager Jose Mourinho, who accused Vinicius of inciting the crowd during the celebrations and said Benfica is not a racist club. “I saw two completely different things. I want to be independent, but I won’t comment on that. I told him (Vinicius) exactly that,” he told Amazon Prime.
Vini Junior claims he was racially abused by Gianluca Prestiani (Image: Getty Images)
“I told him (Vinicius) that when you score a goal like that, you just go home celebrating. When he was discussing racism, I told him that the greatest person in the history of this club (Eusebio) is black.”
“This club is completely racist. If in his mind there was anything related to it, this is Benfica. They (Vinicius and Prestianni) told me different things, but I don’t believe in either one. I want to be independent.”
Vinicius was supported by his teammates. Trent Alexander-Arnold said: “Vini has been through this several times throughout his career and for it to happen tonight and ruin our night as a team is a shame.” “As I said, this is a disgrace to football. There is no place for that in football or in society. It’s disgusting.”
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