Nyon: European football’s governing body UEFA has ordered an investigation into allegations that Vinicius Junior was racially abused by Gianluca Prestianni during the UEFA Champions League 2025–26 playoff between Benfica and Real Madrid on February 17.
The alleged incident occurred after Vinicius scored and was shown a yellow card by referee Francois Letexier for an animated goal celebration. During the celebration, Prestianni confronted the Brazilian forward and pulled his shirt over his mouth before saying something that Vinicius perceived as abusive.
Vinicius immediately approached Letexier to report the incident, prompting the referee to halt the match for ten minutes in accordance with UEFA’s protocol for handling allegations of racist abuse involving players.
UEFA confirmed on Tuesday that it is reviewing the official match reports. If Prestianni is found guilty following the investigation, disciplinary action will be taken.
“The official reports from the matches played last night are currently being reviewed,” UEFA said in a statement. “Where issues are reported, proceedings are opened and, if they lead to the imposition of disciplinary sanctions, they are announced on the UEFA disciplinary website. We have no further information to provide at this stage.”
Following the match, Vinicius posted a photograph on Instagram of himself celebrating near the Benfica corner flag and addressed the incident.
“Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to cover their mouths with their shirts to show how weak they are. Nothing that happened today is new to me in my life and in my family’s life. I was shown a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t know why,” he wrote.
In the match itself, Benfica failed to capitalise on their chances and suffered a 1–0 defeat to Real Madrid, denting their prospects of advancing to the next round of the tournament.
With IANS inputs