Last night, Real Madrid and Benfica went head-to-head in the UEFA league match, before it had to be stopped five minutes into the second half due to allegations of racist abuse. Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior immediately told the referee about the disgusting racist abuse he’d received from Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni.
Football heavyweights Thierry Henry and Kylian Mbappe have both come to bat for Vinícius Júnior after Benfica attempted to play the incident down.
Vinícius Júnior faces usual denials of racism
On social media after the game Prestianni said:
I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard.
I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players.
And, Benfica coach Jose Mourinho denied the abuse and has since doubled down in attempts to downplay the incident. However, these denials are directly contradicted by Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe who heard the racist abuse:
Kylian Mbappe explains what he heard from Gianluca Prestianni to Vinicius Jr. pic.twitter.com/w3N1dzD3Yd
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 17, 2026
The Brazilian Federation have also spoken out against the racist abuse:
Brazilian Federation release statement to support Vinicius Jr.
“The CBF stands in solidarity with Vinícius Júnior, victim of yet another act of racism this Tuesday, after scoring for Real Madrid against Benfica in Lisbon."
"Racism is a crime. It is unacceptable. It cannot… pic.twitter.com/qcdfVHTXSq
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 17, 2026
The Brazilian Federations statement in full:
The CBF stands in solidarity with Vinícius Júnior, victim of yet another act of racism this Tuesday, after scoring for Real Madrid against Benfica in Lisbon.
Racism is a crime. It is unacceptable. It cannot exist in football or anywhere else. Vini, you are not alone.
Your decision to activate the protocol is an example of courage and dignity. We are proud of you.
We will remain steadfast in the fight against all forms of discrimination. We stand by your side. Always.
White denial
The match had just gone into the second half, with Real Madrid dominating the game. Vinícius Júnior scored in the 50th minute. Like many footballers do, he celebrated his goal at the corner flag which took his team into the lead. This resulted in a yellow card for the player.
Apparently, his dance of celebration was even enough to rile up Prestianni who proceeded to throw a racial slur at the Real Madrid forward. This isn’t the first time racism has shown up in football. Particularly targeted at Vinícius Júnior who the Independent say has ‘evidently’ become a:
lightning rod for the kind of people who would racially abuse an individual, who want to goad him in the worst way possible.
Mourinho also sparked disgust across the world with his statements suggesting that this abuse is Vinícius Júnior’s fault. After the game, the coach said that the Real Madrid player ‘incited the crowd’ and that he was:
unfortunately not just happy to score that astonishing goal.
Deplorably, he went on to suggest that the abuse received was just to be expected apparently, as Mourinho stated:
But there is something wrong because [it] happens in every stadium… the stadium where Vinicius plays, something happens, always.
Mourinho knows exactly what he’s doing here. He’s trying to change the conversation about the racist abuse from his team into a conversation about the celebration after the goal.
Adding in between, referring to a comment he made to Vinícius Júnior at the sideline which can only be seen as an attempt to intimidate, shame or silence the victim by referring to Eusebio:
I told him exactly that, I told when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back and then when he was arguing about racism I told him that the biggest person in the history of this club was black”
As racists often do, he finished:
and this club the last thing that it is is racist, so if, if, in his mind, was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.
‘I’m friends with a black person so I can’t be racist’-vibes
Benfica have since refused to show any humility or consideration for the harm caused in this incident.
In fact, they went even further than denial, attempting to suggest it wasn’t remotely possible for the comment to even be heard. In a disgusting move, the club have made this already horrific incident much worse:
Benfica: “As the images demonstrate, given the distance, the Real Madrid players could not have heard what they claim to have heard.”
What an insane thing to post from the Portuguese club?
— Football Tweet
(@Footballtweet) February 18, 2026
Overwhelmingly, people have come to the defend Vinícius Júnior:
The comment has long been that Mourinho’s football belongs to the past
Well, his comments on this do to
A lot of what he said was astounding given how well versed he’s supposed to be… but the most offensively bizarre was the Eusebio bithttps://t.co/7iTvUCw9Oe
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) February 18, 2026
Football Journalist Henry Winter said on X, confirming racism has always existed in the sport:
Uefa has to investigate exactly what was said to Vinicius Jr during Real Madrid’s game with Benfica. And why Gianluca Prestianni felt the need to cover his mouth. It’s a disputed “he said, they misheard” situation and Uefa has to listen to both sides. But three things are very…
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 18, 2026
Uefa has to investigate exactly what was said to Vinicius Jr during Real Madrid’s game with Benfica. And why Gianluca Prestianni felt the need to cover his mouth. It’s a disputed “he said, they misheard” situation and Uefa has to listen to both sides. But three things are very clear…
The anger of Vinicius and his Real team-mates. Trent Alexander-Arnold told Amazon Prime that what happened was “a disgrace to football”.
It’s irrelevant that Benfica found Vinicius’ goal celebration “disrespectful”. He’s allowed to dance by the corner-flag. Some of the most iconic goal celebrations have come that way. It was a great goal and an important one. The ref deemed the celebration over the top, and controversially booked him, but nothing justifies the alleged response that Vinicius claims was then directed at him.
Uefa’s record on clamping down on racism is not the strongest. A fine here, a short ban or a game behind closed doors there. If it is proved that Prestianni directed a racist comment at Vinicius – an allegation he denies – the punishment has to be a lengthy ban and a re-education course. Only by applying appropriate sanctions, meaningful sanctions for a societal curse manifesting itself in football, can Uefa show it is serious about its “No To Racism” message. #kickitout
Mbappe: “Racists are, above all, cowards”
French footballer Kylian Mbappe continued to stand up for his teammate at the game, afterwards telling him:
BAILA @vinijr and please never stop.
They will never tell us what we have to do or not.— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) February 17, 2026
Speaking truth to power, Vinícius Júnior spoke out in a story on Instagram:
Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirts in their mouths 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 in my team’s life.
I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t understand why. On the other hand, it was just a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose.
I don’t like to appear in situations like this, especially after a big win and when the headlines should be about Real Madrid, but it’s necessary.
This incident and subsequent attempts to suggest that Vinícius Júnior brought the racist abuse on himself has thankfully led to a huge swell of solidarity in response.
Reminding us yet again; solidarity should always be with the victims of abuse – not with the abusers.
Featured image via the Canary
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