{"id":431541,"date":"2026-02-18T03:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/431541\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T03:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:06:09","slug":"vinicius-junior-fury-after-alleged-racist-abuse-mars-real-madrids-win-at-benfica-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/431541\/","title":{"rendered":"Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior fury after alleged racist abuse mars Real Madrid\u2019s win at Benfica | Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior and his teammates appeared ready to walk off and the game was delayed for 10 minutes as the Brazilian was allegedly subject to racist abuse after scoring the goal that gives Real Madrid a 1-0 first-leg lead in their Champions League<\/a> playoff against Benfica.<\/p>\n

The forward had celebrated a sensational strike by dancing in the corner of the Est\u00e1dio da Luz and in the confrontations that followed, Benfica\u2019s Gianluca Prestianni said something to him while covering his mouth. Vin\u00edcius immediately ran to the referee, Fran\u00e7ois Letexier, who stopped the match and crossed his arms to signal that he was activating the anti-racism protocol.<\/p>\n

In TV footage, it seemed that the word that Vin\u00edcius reported back to the referee was \u201cmono\u201d (monkey) and when that was put to Madrid\u2019s coach, \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa, afterwards, he said: \u201cYou have to ask the Benfica player what he said\u00a0\u2026 I have no reason not to believe what Vin\u00edcius says.\u201d Vin\u00edcius later posted that racists are \u201ccowards who have to cover their mouths\u201d, while Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 later said that Prestianni had used the word five times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to Vin\u00edcius and he said one thing and Prestianni said another,\u201d Jos\u00e9 Mourinho said, although the Benfica manager also questioned why Vin\u00edcius celebrated as he had.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened tonight is a disgrace,\u201d Trent Alexander-Arnold said. The Real Madrid<\/a> captain, Federico Valverde, said: \u201cIf you cover your mouth to say something it\u2019s because it\u2019s not right. It\u2019s lamentable. The insult is very serious and it has happened lots of times to Vin\u00edcius.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vin\u00edcius had been shown a yellow card for the celebrations and all over the pitch there were more confrontations, some heated, others dejected. At one point Mbapp\u00e9 appeared to accuse Prestianni of being a \u201cfucking racist\u201d. \u201cI am proud of my teammates for protecting Vin\u00edcius and Vin\u00edcius for carrying on,\u201d Valverde said. Mourinho said afterwards that there was a moment in which the Brazilian did not want to continue. \u201cThere was a great game for 50 minutes and then it ended,\u201d the Benfica coach said.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Mourinho talks to Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior before the game is restarted. Photograph: Rodrigo Antunes\/Reuters<\/p>\n

It had been competitive until then, and very different to the last time they met<\/a> just 20 days ago. Mourinho had said that he began his analysis by watching that game back but soon turned off and threw his early prep in the bin. This Madrid is not that Madrid, he said, and that was quickly clear. Arbeloa has settled on a structure that gives a more muscular presence in the middle, offering a solidity that simply wasn\u2019t there three weeks ago and ultimately this was a controlled, impressive away performance from Madrid, until the moment which sadly eclipsed\u00a0everything.<\/p>\n

Benfica had started brightly again, the noise rising as Rafa Silva was almost slipped in after just three minutes and there was willingness to run through the middle from deep, particularly from Leandro Barreiro, while Thibaut Courtois made a superb stop from Fredrik Aursnes. But this time they would not find it so easy to tear into Madrid. Real, for their part, increased the tempo and might have led in a frantic spell before half-time.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9, \u00c1lvaro Carreras and a superb touch from Vin\u00edcius set up Mbapp\u00e9 for the first chance on 42\u00a0minutes, only for the Frenchman to fire over. On 43, after Eduardo Camavinga had been allowed to advance, Mbapp\u00e9 turned and drew a save from Anatoliy Trubin. On 44, Vin\u00edcius got into the area to find Mbapp\u00e9, whose shot was blocked. And then on 45, Trubin made a fantastic save from Arda Guler. At that point, all Benfica wanted was for the whistle to blow, although they were annoyed when it finally did \u2013 just as they had a chance for a quick throw that might have released them.<\/p>\n

Those laments did not last long, but far worse ones replaced them. They had only been back out four minutes when Vin\u00edcius was released on the left, cut inside across the corner of the area and struck a fabulous shot into the far top corner. Although they did eventually continue, while Benfica came back at Madrid, Courtois saving from Andreas Schjelderup, Prestianni getting booked for diving in search of a penalty, Mourinho getting sent off for protesting, and a late Sidny Lopes Cabral free-kick looping on to the top of the net, something had been lost, a sadness left in its place. The game had long since ended Mourinho said, and in the way that no one wanted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior and his teammates appeared ready to walk off and the game was delayed for 10 minutes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-431541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}