Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni has denied racially abusing Real Madrid prodigy Vinicius Jr during his team’s Champions League clash with the Spanish club in Lisbon on Tuesday, February 18.
The game was halted for 10 minutes during the second half when Vinicius Jnr scored a goal in the 50th minute and was quickly seen reporting an alleged racist abuse to the referee Francois Letexier.
According to reports, Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni confronted him, covering his mouth with his jersey while speaking, and Vinicius insist that the player called him a monkey.
This was after Vini Jr celebrated in front of Benfica fans at the Estadio da Luz and was shown a yellow card, while appearing to be targeted by objects thrown from the Portuguese crowd while celebrating.
Responding to the allegations of racism, the Benfica midfielder has denied calling Vini a monkey. He said,
“I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults at Vinícius Júnior; he unfortunately misinterpreted what was said. I have never been racist towards anyone. I was never racist with anyone, and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players”
Despite his denial, Real Madrid’s Mbappe insists that he heard Estadio call Vini a monkey about 5 times, asking that he be banned from the Champions League.
Before Estadio’s response, Vini Jr posted on his Instagram, calling racists cowards.
His post read, “Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are.
“But they have the protection of others who, theoretically, have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or in my team’s life.
“I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t understand why. On the other hand, it was just a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose.”
In a post on their official X account, alongside a video of the alleged incident, Benfica defended Prestianni.
“As the images demonstrate, given the distance, the Real Madrid players could not have heard what they claim to have heard,” was the Portuguese club’s message.
Mourinho’s remarks on incident
Benfica manager Jose Mourinho was captured having an interaction with Vinicius Jnr after he walked off the pitch following the interaction with Prestianni.
Speaking during a post-match interview, he indicated that he had been told different stories by both Vini and his player, Prestianni. However, he insists that he remains neutral and wouldn’t take sides.
In addition to expressing his belief that Vinicius had been disrespectful with his goal celebration, he pointed to the club’s legendary striker Eusebio as proof that Benfica is not a racist club.
Asked if he felt Vinicius incited the crowd, Mourinho said: “Yes. I believe so.
“It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately, he was not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate respectfully.”
He continued, “I told [Vinicius], when you score a goal like that, you just celebrate and walk back. When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black.
“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.
“They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be independent.”
Vinicius Jr has been a subject in many cases of racial abuse over the years during his career, especially in Spain’s La Liga, and most recently in European competition.
During an El Clásico against Barcelona at Camp Nou in October 2021, he was subjected to racist chants. Barely 3 months after the incident, a similar abuse happened in Real Madrid’s match against Athletic Bilbao. Fast forward, another attack came from some Atlético Madrid fans in May 2022, who directed racist chants towards him outside the stadium during a derby. That September, in a game against Mallorca, monkey chants followed one of his goals.
It went into another year, 2023, when Valladolid fans targeted him during warm‑ups. The most infamous incident came on May 21, 2023, at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium, where sustained racist chanting led Vinícius to confront fans directly. This episode drew global outrage and even inspired Brazil to pass the “Vinícius Jr. Law” against racism in sports.
By mid‑2024, ESPN had counted 16 separate racist abuse incidents targeting him in Spain alone. The Valencia case remains the most high‑profile, but the Benfica incident shows the problem persists beyond Spain, underscoring the ongoing challenge of racism in football.
FIFA’s guidance on racism during matches says: “Following its unanimous approval at the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on 17 May 2024, a global crossed arms gesture to signal racist abuse is now part of football protocol at FIFA tournaments. The No Racism Gesture is designed to empower players, team officials and referees to take a stand against racism.
“By crossing their hands at the wrists, players can signal directly to the referee that they are being targeted by racist abuse, prompting the referee to start the three-step procedure.”
UEFA has its own racism reporting initiative that referees can implement.
Both UEFA and FIFA have a three-step protocol for stopping matches after alleged incidents, which can end in matches being abandoned. The Athletic has contacted UEFA for comment.
Meanwhile, in May last year, FIFA announced that it had put forward a five-pillar plan aimed at addressing racist abuse in football.
The global governing body stated that it had engaged in an extensive consultation process with current and former players who are committed to instigating change.
One of the plan’s key suggestions involves implementing a standard crossed-hands gesture for players to signal racist incidents during matches.
The first pillar of the proposal intends to make racism a specific offence which is included in all member associations’ disciplinary codes and has its own “specific and severe sanctions, including match forfeits”.
FIFA said it will “pause, suspend and abandon games in cases of racism”.
The crossed-hands gesture will be used by referees to signal an in-game procedure in which matches are paused twice, and warnings are given, with the game to then be abandoned in the event of further racism.
In pillar three – ‘criminal charges’ – Fifa called for racism to be recognised as a criminal offence in every country, and said it would push for severe sanctions in the countries where it is already an offence.
Fifa also said it would promote education initiatives with schools and governments to “provide a future free of racism”, while an anti-racism panel made up of former players will be set up to review the progress of the proposal.
