Benfica forward Gianluca Prestianni has dominated the headlines after allegedly racially abusing Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during Tuesday’s Champions League playoff first leg.
The match, which was staged at Estádio da Luz in Lisbon and won 1–0 by Madrid, was temporarily halted during the second half after Vinicius reported being the subject of a racial slur to referee François Letexier. The alleged incident occurred in the aftermath of the Brazilian’s goal celebrations shortly after the break and was corroborated by Kylian Mbappé, who insisted that he heard Prestianni “say that Vinicius is a monkey, five times.”
