Follow Us on Google
By John Ogunsemore
Real Madrid edged Benfica 1-0 in the UCL playoffs in Lisbon on Tuesday night, a game overshadowed by a racism incident involving goalscorer Vinicius Jr.
The game was halted for 10 minutes after the Brazilian reported alleged racist abuse and he and his team-mates left the field.
After putting the visitors ahead in the second half, Vinicius was booked for excessive celebration.
But the game took a dramatic turn shortly after when Vinicius ran over to referee Francois Letexier to report racist abuse, following an interaction with Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni.
A Real Madrid statement quoted Vinicius as telling the referee that Prestianni, who is Argentine, racially abused him.
The Brazilian immediately walked off the pitch in company of his Real Madrid teammates but play resumed after 10 minutes.
In a statement he released after the game, Vinicius described racists as cowards.
He said, “Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their to show how weak they are”.
Other News
He added, “But they have protection of others who, theoretically, have a clear obligation to in these cases.
“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 ’ I got that card.
“On the other hand, I see it was just a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose. I don’t like to appear in situations like this, after the big win when headlines should be about Real Madrid… but it’s ”.
While Prestianni has not responded, Benfica teammate Vangelis Pavlidis said he did not believe the Argentine said what he was accused of.
He said the incident could be traceable to the heated rivalry that exists between Brazil and Argentina.
However, Real Madrid manager, Alvaro Arbeloa backed Vinicius, saying he believed the forward.
Asked about the alleged racist remark in the post-match conference, Arbeloa said, “You need to ask the Benfica player. We all deserve to hear his answer. It’s clear that there must be no tolerance for racism. We cannot allow things like this to happen on a football pitch in 2026.”
He said he told Vinicius immediately after the incident that the team would support any action he took.
“All I told him was that if he wanted to keep playing, we’d be by his side, whatever decision he made. Always by his side. We rode together, we died together, and when something like this happens, we’re always there for him. We’ll always fight together, just like today,” the manager stated.
