Álvaro Arbeloa and Thibaut Courtois have called on Uefa to take a genuine stand against racism and change football following the alleged racist abuse of Vinícius Júnior by Gianluca Prestianni during Real Madrid’s Champions League playoff first leg at Benfica last week, with Arbeloa imploring the governing body to go beyond “just slogans” as the two teams prepare to meet again.
Courtois also expressed his disappointment with José Mourinho for linking the incident to Vinícius’s celebration of the only goal of the game in Lisbon and insisted suggestions that Prestianni’s defence might be that he instead used a homophobic slur would be “just as bad”.
The game at the Estádio da Luz last Tuesday was delayed for 10 minutes after Vinícius informed the referee, François Letexier, that Prestianni had racially abused him, with teammate Kylian Mbappé later accusing his opponent of calling Vinícius a “monkey” five times. Prestianni travelled to Madrid for the return leg after Benfica appealed against the provisional one-match ban handed to him by Uefa while it conducts an investigation and joined training inside the Santiago Bernabéu.
Mourinho led the team out for the session but took advantage of his touchline ban to refuse to speak in the press conference, leaving his assistant João Tralhão to face the media instead, alongside the Norwegian midfielder Fredrik Aursnes. The press conference began with Benfica announcing they would not answer any questions on the case. Tralhão claimed he did not know whether or not Mourinho would be in the stadium on Wednesday night and where he would watch the game.
Arbeloa, Madrid’s head coach, said: “We have a great chance to mark a before and after. Uefa has flown the flag for anti-racism and we now have a chance to not leave that as just a slogan, a nice banner to bring out before games, but to make it real.”
Courtois said: “This a good moment for football to end these things. In the dressing room we know what Vinícius told us. It has happened many times in football; not just on the pitch but in the stands. We have to end this now. Uefa will decide what they have to do – the players do not matter in that – but it would be a good message [to act].
“With Prestianni, it will always be word against word and they [Benfica] will believe what their player says. We are 100% with Viní. Viní has had thousands of battles and has never said anything like this. We know Viní heard it 100% and I believe him 100%. Because he [Prestianni] covered his mouth, we won’t know what was said, so Benfica will defend their player and there is not much more we can do now. It is Uefa who have to decide what they want to decide.”
Of the Benfica head coach, the Belgian goalkeeper said: “In the end, Mourinho is Mourinho. As a coach you are always going to defend your club and what your player said. The only thing that disappoints me a bit is him using Viní’s celebration. Vini didn’t do anything bad. You can’t justify an alleged act of racism with a celebration.”
When it was put to Courtois that there is footage which appears to show Prestianni using a homophobic slur, he replied: “After the game, Aurélien [Tchouaméni] said that. It seems as bad to me. Those are homophobic insults and it’s as serious. I have also seen images of [racist gestures in] the stands at Benfica during the game and I think it’s deplorable. You can like a player more or less but those gestures are lamentable.
“I don’t know if Benfica will pursue those fans who did monkey gestures. A lot of things have not been handled well. Racism, homophobia: we cannot accept those things ever. And if he didn’t cover his mouth there, we can imagine what he said when he did cover his mouth.”
Speaking before Benfica travelled to Madrid, the club’s president, Rui Costa, reiterated the club’s belief in Prestianni’s innocence. The former Portugal midfielder said: “I’m not on the pitch to know what was said or not said, but as you can imagine, in a situation like that, a lot is said. But we believe in our player’s word, because more than that, we know the players we have at home. Therefore, Prestianni is being crucified as a racist person, and I can guarantee that he is anything but racist, and that is why we have such confidence in him as a player.”
“Benfica stands as an inclusive club, an anti-racist club, which would never allow racist players in its squad. This is a point I want to make very clear.”
Benfica used Costa’s words as a justification for their refusal to speak on the issue once they had landed in Madrid.
Asked about what should be done if there was another episode of racism in football, Aursnes said: “I won’t discuss this issue [but] in general I would say there is not any room for racism anywhere and if anyone treats anyone different because look different or have another skin colour, it is totally unacceptable.”
Mbappé is expected to miss the match due to a knee injury he has played through for the past few weeks.
