Benfica have released a statement following reports Gianluca Prestianni has now ‘admitted’ to teammates that he called Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr a ‘monkey’ earlier this month.
The alleged incident, which sparked widespread outrage among the football community, occurred during the first leg of the Champions League knockout phase play-off tie between the clubs on February 17.
Prestianni covered his mouth and said something to Vinicius Jr, who was criticised by Benfica manager Jose Mourinho for his celebrations after scoring early in the second half. Vini Jr immediately ran over to French referee Francois Letexier, who reacted by signalling the anti-racism gesture by crossing his arms. The match was subsequently halted for 10 minutes.
Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe accused Prestianni of calling his teammate a ‘monkey’ - an accusation strenuously denied by the Argentina international, who protested his innocence via social media after the match.
The 20-year-old wrote at the time: “I want to clarify that at no point did I direct racist insults at Vinícius Jr, who unfortunately misunderstood what he thought he heard. I have never been racist toward anyone.”
While Prestianni hasn’t been found guilty of any wrongdoing at the time of writing, he was suspended from Benfica’s second leg clash against Real Madrid this week. He trained with his teammates at the Bernabeu but his one-game provisional ban imposed by UEFA wasn’t overturned despite Benfica’s appeal.
Despite taking the lead in Madrid, Benfica lost the match 2-1. Goals either side of half-time from Aurelien Tchouameni and Vini Jr sent the Spanish giants through to the Champions League Round of 16.
Benfica React to Reports Prestianni Has 'Admitted' His Guilt
Reports in Portugal - via Yahoo - claim Prestianni has now admitted to Benfica’s players that he did call Vinicius Jr a ‘monkey’, despite initially pleading his innocence. However, this report has prompted a firm statement from Benfica, denying these reports are accurate. Per Sky Sports, Benfica have now said:
"Sport Lisboa e Benfica categorically denies that the player Prestianni has communicated to the squad or the club's structure that he has uttered a racist insult to the player Vinicius Jr, from Real Madrid.
"As has already been made public, the player apologised to his teammates for the incident that occurred during the match against Real Madrid, regretting the dimension and consequences of it and assuring everyone, as he has done since the first hour, that he is not racist."
If found guilty of racially abusing Vinicius Jr, Prestianni faces a minimum 10-game ban for breaking UEFA’s regulations on discriminatory behaviour. However, European football’s governing body have said the provisional ban is without prejudice, meaning Prestianni can still expect a fair hearing.
- Rob Swan
