Recent footage appears to point out Benfica fans making racist gestures at Vinicius Junior during Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Real sealed a 1-0 win over Benfica in the primary leg of their Champions League play-off tie in Portugal with Vinicius scoring the winning goal within the fiftieth minute.
Nevertheless, the match was overshadowed shortly afterwards when the Brazilian ran towards referee Francois Letexier, claiming that Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni had said a racist insult towards him.
Vinicius’ teammate Kylian Mbappe alleged after the sport that Prestianni had called Vinicius ‘mono’ or monkey, although the Argentine refutted those allegations.
Benfica, meanwhile, released footage of the alleged incident and claimed that the Real winger was not close enough to Prestianni to listen to what was said.
Speaking after the sport, Benfica boss Jose Mourinho said he wouldn’t take sides within the incident and pointed to the club’s legendary striker Eusebio as proof that Benfica is just not a racist club.
Asked about Vinicius’ goal celebrates, which preceded the alleged racist abuse, Mourinho said: ‘It must be the crazy moment of the sport, an incredible goal. Unfortunately [he was] not only glad to attain that astonishing goal. Whenever you rating a goal like that, you have fun in a respectful way.
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‘I told [Vinicius], if you rating a goal like that you simply just have fun and walk back. When he was arguing about racism, I told him the most important person within the history of this club [Eusebio] was black.
‘This club, the final thing that it’s, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that, that is Benfica.’
Despite those assertions, videos have since emerged online showing two fans in Benfica kits making monkey gestures towards Vinicius.
Vinicius Junior’s statement on alleged racial abuse
‘Racists are, above all, cowards. They should put their shirts of their mouths to point out how weak they’re.
‘But they’ve the protection of others who, theoretically, have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is latest in my life or in my team’s life.
‘I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t understand why. Alternatively, it was only a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose.
‘I don’t like to look in situations like this, especially after a giant win and when the headlines must be about Real Madrid, however it’s crucial.’
The video was shared on social media by former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand, who spoke at length in regards to the alleged racist abuse directed towards Vinicius.
‘How are we still sitting here talking about racism, for one? But then how are we sitting here attempting to justify when someone says something racist,’ Ferdinand said on Instagram.
‘No, I’m not accepting it. Football known as the gorgeous game since it is a wonderful game, but such a rubbish sets it back a lot, man, and the authorities must be stronger on these items.
‘We’ve said it. We keep saying it. But I can’t understand how we’re attempting to justify someone’s poor behaviour, their ignorance, rattling right stupidness, simply because someone scored an unbelievable goal, a spectacular goal, and he celebrates.
‘How can we now have players celebrating and other people going ‘oh they shouldn’t do this and it’s okay to be abused due to the celebration’. When these little rats right say this racist stuff they must be called out, they must be told, they must be punished and so they shouldn’t be getting no protection.
Ferdinand continued: ‘Normally, you cover your mouth if you’ve got something to cover. If you happen to’re going to say: ‘Vinicius, stop being an idiot’, you ain’t covering your mouth. Whenever you’ve got something to say that’s nasty and disgusting, you’re covering your mouth if you’ve got something to cover.
‘I’m really interested to see how now the authorities, UEFA, take care of this example. Since you’ve got an ideal player who scored a goal who’s made the stadium obviously upset, but people all over the world are going ‘wow what a moment’ and it’s been ruined and tarnished by the behaviour of 1 silly individual.’
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