{"id":24170,"date":"2026-02-24T10:18:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T08:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/uefa-provisionally-suspends-benficas-prestianni-over-racist-slur\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:34:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:34:53","slug":"uefa-provisionally-suspends-benficas-prestianni-over-racist-slur","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/uefa-provisionally-suspends-benficas-prestianni-over-racist-slur\/","title":{"rendered":"UEFA provisionally suspends Benfica\u2019s Prestianni over \u2018racist slur\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
UEFA has provisionally suspended Benfica\u2019s Gianluca Prestianni for one match after the Argentine winger was accused of directing a racist slur at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. during the Spanish side\u2019s 1-0 Champions League playoff first-leg win, European soccer\u2019s governing body said on Monday.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Prestianni will miss Wednesday\u2019s return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Real Madrid holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Lisbon.<\/div>\n
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The suspension is pending the outcome of the ongoing proceedings, as UEFA has appointed an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to investigate the allegations of discriminatory behaviour.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis 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. Further information about this matter will be made available in due course,\u201d UEFA said in a statement.<\/div>\n
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The first leg was suspended for 11 minutes shortly after Vinicius curled Real into the lead five minutes into the second half.<\/div>\n
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Television footage showed Prestianni covering his mouth with his shirt repeatedly before making comments that Vinicius and nearby team mates interpreted as a racial slur against the 25-year-old.<\/div>\n
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Referee Francois Letexier halted the match after activating FIFA\u2019s anti-racism protocols. The footage appeared to show Real forward Kylian Mbappe confronting Prestianni and calling him \u201ca bloody racist\u201d while images from the broadcast seemed to show Benfica fans imitating a monkey.<\/div>\n
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PRESTIANNI DENIED ALLEGATION<\/div>\n
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Prestianni denied the allegation, saying Vinicius \u201cmisunderstood what he thinks he heard\u201d, and Benfica said they stood by their player.<\/div>\n
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Mbappe told reporters he heard Prestianni direct the same racist remark at Vinicius several times, an allegation also made by Real\u2019s French midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni.<\/div>\n
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Mbappe said he had been prepared to leave the pitch but was persuaded by Vinicius to continue playing.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe cannot accept that there is a player in Europe\u2019s top football competition who behaves like this. This guy (Prestianni) doesn\u2019t deserve to play in the Champions League anymore,\u201d Mbappe told reporters.<\/div>\n
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Vinicius later posted a statement on social media voicing his frustration.<\/div>\n
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\u201cRacists are, above all, cowards. They need to cover their mouth with their shirt to show how weak they are. But they have the protection of others who, theoretically, have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or my family\u2019s life,\u201d Vinicius wrote.<\/div>\n
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Anti-discriminatory body Kick It Out said focusing on Vinicius\u2019 goal celebration instead of acknowledging the report was a \u201cform of gaslighting\u201d after Benfica coach Jose Mourinho said he thought Vinicius had incited the crowd.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis approach not only harms the individual affected but also sends the wrong message to others around the world who may have experienced similar situations,\u201d Kick It Out said.<\/div>\n
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Mourinho will not be on the bench for the second leg after receiving a red card for complaining in the first game.<\/div>\n
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–Reuters–<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23985,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-24170","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Prestianni will miss Wednesday\u2019s return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Prestianni will miss Wednesday\u2019s return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26932,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/24170\/revisions\/26932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=24170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}