Gianluca Prestianni has told UEFA he directed a homophobic slur at Vinicius Junior rather than a racist comment during Benfica’s match against Real Madrid, according to reports.
European football’s governing body is investigating ‘allegations of discriminatory behaviour’ after claims Prestianni called the Real Madrid winger a ‘monkey’ while covering his face during the Champions League tie on Tuesday.
The match was halted for 10 minutes by referee Francois Letexier, who made a crossed arms gesture to signal reported racial abuse inside Lisbon’s Estadio de Luz.
Madrid star Kylian Mbappe claimed Prestianni racially abused his team-mate five times, but the Argentinian insisted his opponent ‘misinterpreted what he thinks he heard’.
Now, according to ESPN, the Benfica midfielder has given evidence to the investigation, telling UEFA chiefs that he did not say ‘mono’ – Spanish for ‘monkey’ – but instead directed a homophobic slur towards Vinicius.
Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni also told reporters that the Benfica player had claimed to have used a homophobic slur in the immediate aftermath of the match.
Gianluca Prestianni has reportedly given evidence to a UEFA investigation after he was accused of racially abusing Vinicius Junior
Prestianni has said Vinicius ‘misinterpreted what he thinks he heard’ and insists he did not call the Real Madrid star a ‘monkey’
The two sides will meet again on Wednesday when Benfica travel to the Santiago Bernabeu looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, thanks to Vinicius’s goal.
Madrid first play Osasuna in a La Liga match on Saturday evening, but manager Alvaro Arbeloa’s pre-match press conference was dominated by questions surrounding the alleged racist abuse.
‘Vinicius is sad, like all of us, and very indignant about what happened because, evidently, it was a racist act, which we don’t want to happen again,’ Arbeloa said.
‘An act that has no place in our sport or in our society. We have a huge opportunity not to let this go unpunished and to fight against this scourge that is racism.’
The Madrid boss, who took over from Xabi Alonso just last month, also encouraged UEFA to ‘punish’ Prestianni.
‘It’s in UEFA’s hands,’ he said. They were the first to fight this battle many years ago, it’s a great opportunity for them to show that this fight is not just words, to take action and punish, to ensure that acts like those that happened in that game do not happen again.’
The Spanish club confirmed on Thursday that it had sent ‘all available evidence’ to UEFA regarding the case, fully backing their Brazilian star.
Meanwhile, as exclusively revealed by Daily Mail Sport this week, Jose Mourinho has banned all mention of Real Madrid among his Benfica squad following the allegations of racism.
Alvaro Arbeloa said Vinicius is ‘sad’ and urged UEFA to ‘punish’ Prestianni for his comments
We understand Mourinho has ordered his players to focus solely on their forthcoming Primeira Liga fixture against AVS, and has made clear he will tolerate no discussion of the Madrid tie or any issues relating to it, such as the Vinicius-Prestianni controversy.
Prestianni will not feature in the AVS fixture as he serves a one-match domestic suspension after collecting five bookings.
Mourinho came under fire last week by some quarters for suggesting Vinicius had incited his players after celebrating his goal with by dancing at the corner flag.
‘Unfortunately (Vinicius) was not just happy to score that astonishing goal and then the game was over. When you score a goal like that you celebrate in a respectful way,’ Mourinho told Amazon Prime Sport after the game.
When asked if Vinicius had ‘incited’ Benfica’s players and fans with his exuberant celebration, Mourinho said: ‘Yeah, I believe so. The words they exchange, Prestianni with Vinicius, I want to be independent. I don’t comment about it.’
He added: ‘There is something wrong because it happens in every stadium. Every stadium that Vinicius plays (in) something happens. Always.’
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany said Mourinho made a ‘huge mistake’ with his comments.
‘You have the leader of an organisation, Jose Mourinho, who attacks the character of Vinicius Jr by bringing in the type of celebration to discredit what Vinicius is doing in this moment,’ Kompany said.
Jose Mourinho suggested Vinicius incited his players by his dancing celebration after scoring
Vincent Kompany believes Mourinho had a ‘huge mistake’ and attacked Vinicius’s ‘character’
‘In terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake and something we should not accept.
‘I met 100 people who worked with Jose Mourinho. I’ve never heard a person say anything bad about Jose. All his players that played with him, they love him. I understand the person he is. I understand he is fighting for his team, for his club and he’s made that decision.
‘You cannot be a bad person and have all the ex-players you’ve had talk so positively about you. I know he’s a good person. I don’t need to judge him as a person but I also know what I’ve heard and I understand maybe what he’s done, but he made a mistake.
‘Hopefully it won’t happen again in the future, and we can move forward and grow and look at the things that we can do together rather than things that constantly separate us.’
Arbeloa was asked about both manager’s comments, and said: ‘I don’t really like it and I’m not here to comment on Kompany’s or Jose’s reflections.
‘Everyone is free to give their opinion. I’m here to give mine. He scored a great goal and celebrated like we’ve seen hundreds of players throughout history.
‘Let’s not turn the victim into a provocateur. I think that would be unjustifiable, and I believe that nothing Vinicius did justifies a racist act.’