Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni will miss the return leg of the Champions League play-off against Real Madrid on Wednesday after he was accused of racially abusing Vinícius Júnior.
Uefa has provisionally suspended the Argentinian winger, who was seen speaking to the Real forward with his shirt over his mouth. Vinícius complained to the referee that Prestianni had used the word mono or monkey towards him after the Brazilian had scored the only goal of the first leg. Prestianni denied using racist language.
It is unusual for a player to be suspended before the outcome of a disciplinary process, but Prestianni has claimed he used an “anti-gay” slur rather than a racist one — and that would also mean a lengthy ban.
Vinícius Júnior speaks to Benfica head coach Jose Mourinho during the altercation
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The 20-year-old will now miss the second leg and could be banned for up to ten games under Uefa’s disciplinary rules.
A Uefa statement said that following a disciplinary inspector’s interim report, its control, ethics and disciplinary body (CEDB) has “decided to provisionally suspend Mr Gianluca Prestianni for the next (1) Uefa club competition match for which he would otherwise be eligible for the prima facie violation of Article 14 of the Uefa Disciplinary Regulations (DR) related to a discriminatory behaviour.
“This is without prejudice to any ruling that the Uefa disciplinary bodies may subsequently make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and its respective submission to the Uefa disciplinary bodies.”
Benfica responded to the suspension by saying in a statement that they “regret being deprived of the player while the case is still under investigation and will appeal Uefa’s decision”, but the club accepted that the process was unlikely to be completed before Wednesday’s match.
The Benfica head coach José Mourinho, who has been heavily criticised for suggesting that Vinícius invited abuse, will not attend the pre-match news conference. The former Chelsea and Real manager will also not be on the bench for the match at the Bernabeu after being sent off in the first leg.
Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé claimed immediately following the match — which was held up for ten minutes after the alleged racist abuse was reported to the referee — that he heard Prestianni call Vinícius a monkey up to five times.
“I called him racist because I think he is,” said Mbappé. “He tried to hide behind his shirt, but his face doesn’t lie. A young player cannot have the freedom to say things like this on a football field.”
In 2021, the Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela was provisionally suspended for racially abusing Rangers’ Glen Kamara. He was later given a ten-match ban.