NEW YORK, Switzerland (AP) – UEFA announced on Monday that Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni has been handed an interim one-match suspension for making racist comments at Vinicius Junior.
The decision means Prestiani will miss Wednesday’s Champions League play-off second leg between Real Madrid and Benfica. Madrid won their first match in Lisbon last Tuesday, with Vinicius scoring the winning goal in the second half. 1-0 victory.
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 is denied racial insults Vinicius.
Anti-racism protocols were activated, but no further action was taken during the match as there was no evidence against Prestiani, who covered his mouth with his shirt while talking to Vinicius. The Madrid forward was shown a yellow card after celebrating.
UEFA said the decision of its Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) related to discriminatory conduct.
“This does not affect any subsequent decisions that the UEFA Disciplinary Authority may make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and their respective submissions to the UEFA Disciplinary Authority,” it said in a statement.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said after the match that he was “shocked and saddened to see the incident of alleged racism” and praised the referee for invoking anti-racism protocols.
Benfica showed support Prestiani said the Portuguese club claimed the Madrid players who testified they heard the insults were too far away. Benfica later issued a statement welcoming UEFA’s investigation and saying they “fully support and believe” Prestiani’s “actions during his time at the club have always been based on respect for everyone”.
Benfica fans were furious that Vinicius celebrated his 50th-minute goal by dancing in front of the corner flag and throwing bottles and other objects at Madrid players. Prestiani then confronted Vinicius and said something while covering his mouth with his jersey.
Prestiani claimed that Vinicius had misunderstood what he had said, but Benfica players reportedly said after the match that the Argentine had provoked the Brazilian forward but had never racially insulted him.
Kylian Mbappé was one of the Madrid players who strongly defended Vinicius. Posted in X“Dance, Vini, and never stop. They never tell us what to do or not do.”
The French star also said Prestiani should never play in the Champions League again.
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