UEFA Champions League drama broke out in Lisbon on Tuesday night. Vinicius Jr. Reported suspected racist abuse real madrid1-0 victory over a tense match Benficaforcing a 10-minute stoppage.
The Champions League knockout phase play-off at the Estadio da Luz was called off after Vinicius criticized the Benfica midfielder. Gianluca Prestiani For racially abusing him.
The incident happened shortly after Vinicius gave Real Madrid the lead in the second half with a stunning goal.
After the on-field exchange with Prestiani, the 25-year-old ran up to the referee François Letexierhe gestured towards the Benfica players.
Letexier responded by making a crossed-arms gesture, a FIFA-approved signal for reports of racist abuse.
Immediately afterwards, Vinicius led his Real Madrid teammates off the pitch as the match was suspended for 10 minutes and resumed in the 60th minute.
Vinicius Jr. explains why he was nominated for the celebration
Vinicius was given a yellow card for excessive celebrations before the end of the game after dancing near the corner flag, an act that reportedly caused tension on the pitch.
Objects were then thrown from the crowd, one of which hit a Brazilian player in the arm in stoppage time.
Despite the confusion, Real Madrid sealed the victory with a 1-0 victory after 12 minutes of stoppage time.
After the match, Vinicius issued a strongly worded statement on Instagram condemning the incident and its response.
He wrote word for word:
“Racists are cowards above all else.”
“They have to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are, but they have the protection of others who, in theory, are obligated to punish them.”
“What happened today is nothing new in my life or in the lives of my team.”
“I got a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t know why. On the other hand, it didn’t help anything, it was just a lack of procedure.”
Benfica’s Prestiani denies allegations
Benfica’s 20-year-old midfielder Gianluca Prestiani has categorically denied that he directed racist abuse towards the Real Madrid star.
he said:
“I would like to clarify that I never directly directed any racist insults at Vini Jr. He unfortunately misunderstood what he thought he heard.”
“I have never been racist towards anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players.”
Benfica also publicly defended their player, posting on their official X (formerly Twitter) account along with video footage of the incident.
The club writes:
“As the image shows, given the distance there is no way Real Madrid’s players could not have heard what they claim to have heard.”
Jose Mourinho weighs in
Benfica manager Jose Mourinho The Real winger was also seen talking to Vinicius on the pitch after he was sent off.
Mourinho revealed in his post-match interview that both players gave conflicting accounts of the incident.
he said:
“They (Vinicius and Prestiani) told me different things. But I don’t believe either of them.”
“I want to be independent.”
Mourinho also criticized Vinicius’ goal celebration, suggesting he inflamed the situation.
“Yes. I believe so.”
“That should have been the best moment of the game. It was a great goal. Unfortunately, (he) wasn’t just happy to score that amazing goal.”
“When you score a goal like that, you celebrate with respect.”
“I told (Vinicius) that when you score a goal like that, you just celebrate and go home.”
“When he was discussing racism, I told him the greatest person in the history of this club was a black man.”
“This club is racist.”
UEFA’s racism protocol explained
UEFA operates a three-tier anti-racism protocol introduced in 2009.
The game stopped and a public announcement was made.
If the abuse continues, the player will be removed from the pitch for 5-10 minutes.
If the behavior continues after restarting, the match will be aborted.
The crossed-arms gesture used by Letexier was introduced by FIFA in May 2024 to officially recognize reports of racist abuse.
Racist pattern against Vinicius Jr.
This latest episode joins a long list of racist incidents Vinicius has suffered throughout his career. In recent years:
Several Spanish clubs have been slapped with fines and sanctions.
Some fans were banned from entering the stadium or sentenced to prison.
In May 2025, five people in Spain were sentenced to suspended prison sentences for racial abuse.
Vinicius himself admitted in March 2024 that his desire to play football was “becoming less and less” due to the constant abuse.
