PARIS.- The UEFA announced on Wednesday the opening of an investigation into “accusations of discriminatory behavior” after the Brazilian soccer player Vinicius denounces racist insults from the Argentine Gianluca Prestianni in the match Benfica-Real Madridfor the Champions League.
In a statement, UEFA announced that “an inspector specializing in ethics and disciplinary matters has been appointed to investigate allegations of discriminatory behavior.”
After opening the scoring in the 50th minute, Vinicius celebrated in front of the Benfica fans, which caused a heated argument with several players of the Portuguese team and which earned the Brazilian a warning.
When it looked like the match was going to resume, the Brazilian ran towards the referee pointing his finger at Prestianni, apparently to tell him that the Argentine international had called him ‘monkey’.
The match was interrupted for almost ten minutes by the French referee François Letexierwho decided to resume it without further sanctions.
The French Aurélien TchouaéniReal Madrid midfielder, commented that “this is unacceptable. Vini told us that the guy had called him a monkey hiding under his shirt.”
On the Instagram network, Vinicius Jr. commented that “racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirt in front of their mouth to show how weak they are.”
The French star Kylian Mbappéalso from Real Madrid, considered that Prestianni did not “deserve” to play in the Champions League.
“We cannot accept that a player who participates in the best football competition in Europe behave like that,” he commented.
Former players charge against Prestianni
Several former players charged against the alleged racist insult of the Argentine Benfica player.
The former attacker of FC Barcelona and currently sports commentator, Thierry Henryharshly attacked Prestianni, who had uttered some racist words against Vinicius while covering his mouth with the elastic, although the player denies these accusations.
“I can understand what Vinicius is going through. That happened to me many times on the field. I mentioned it many times after the games. I have also been accused of looking for excuses after the games when it happened to me. Sometimes, you feel alone, because it will be your word against his,” Henry said on CBS Sport.
“Let’s see how brave he (Prestianni) is. Why are you covering your nose and mouth?” said the former player of the Arsenal.
“Vinicius’ reaction tells me that something is wrong. We still don’t know what was said. Vinicius can tell us his version and Prestianni, I’m sure, won’t tell us what he really said, because at one point I saw Kylian Mbappé confront him and he said: ‘I didn’t say anything,'” Henry explained.
Another former footballer who wore the Real Madrid shirt, the Dutchman Clarence Seedorfalso came to the fore.
“I think that the fact that Vini has been going through a bad situation for many years in Spain “it cannot be hidden,” he said in reference to the numerous complaints about having received insults from fans in some Spanish stadiums.
