ROME (ITALPRESS) – Vinicius Junior decided last night’s first leg of the playoff between his Real and Benfica. Los Blancos won 1-0 away against the Portuguese side, with the Brazilian scoring the only goal of the match.
However, what caused a stir were the accusations made by the Real player himself, who claimed he was the victim of racist insults from Argentine Gianluca Prestianni. The match was also interrupted for about ten minutes by referee Francois Letexier.
Around the 50th minute, after scoring, the Real player celebrated in a way deemed excessive by the Lisbon crowd. He was shown a yellow card for dissent and was then allegedly insulted by Prestianni. Benfica, however, denied this version of events: “He could not have heard what Prestianni said.”
“Racists are cowards first and foremost. They need to put their shirt in their mouth to show how weak they are,” Vinicius Junior wrote on social media.
Prestianni promptly responded: “He misinterpreted what he believes he heard. I have never been racist and, on the contrary, I am reporting the threats made against me by Real’s players.”
Finally, the Madrid club’s leader, Kylian Mbappé, defended Vinicius Junior. “It is unacceptable, but it happened and it will happen again. Prestianni lifted his shirt and told Vinicius Junior ‘you are a monkey’ five times: I heard it myself. Some Benfica players also heard the insults.”
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
