On February 17th, Real Madrid CF and Benfica lined up for a regular UEFA Champions League match at Estádio da Luz, Benfica’s home stadium. The game would later cause an uproar across football.
Real Madrid Forward Vinícius Jr. opened up the scoring with a beautiful ball into the top right corner, followed up by a run to the corner flag to dance and celebrate. After the home fans threw water bottles at the Brazilian and his teammates, they broke their huddle and walked away, Vini Jr. holding up his shirt to make his name more visible to the opposing fans. As he held his arms open to aggravate fans, a Benfica player slammed into him, and after being dragged away by Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid forward), Vini Jr. was served a yellow for his celebration. Some may say his dancing was “vulgar”, but It did not break any of the excessive celebration rules in place. His team reacted with confusion, the bench standing and making their displeasure with the call known. The call even caused Vini Jr. and teammates such as Mbappé to run over to José Mourinho, the Benfica coach, to have words on the sidelines. After much clamor, the call held.
While the game was still paused, Gianluca Prestianni, Benfica’s right winger, held his shirt over his mouth and said something unclear to Vini Jr., which immediately prompted the Brazilian to run over to the referee and report the incident. As stated in FIFA’s anti-racism protocol, the ref halted the game, and chaos broke over the field.
Mbappé spoke about the incident at the post game press conference, stating that “Benfica’s No. 25 [Prestianni]… started speaking badly. Then he pulled his jersey up to here [covering his mouth] to say that Vini is a monkey five times. I heard it. There are Benfica players that also heard it”. Both Benfica as a club and Prestianni himself denied the allegations, saying it would have been impossible to hear his words over the stadium buzz, and that they condemn the “smear campaign” moving forward on their player.
José Mourinho, Benfica’s coach, came forward to criticize the Brazilian’s celebration, saying that it was distasteful and incited the incident. “In how many stadiums has this happened? How many?” he said. “Vinícius scored a fantastic goal. Why didn’t he celebrate like Eusebio, Pelé, or Di Stéfano?”.
No celebration should ever justify racial abuse, no matter how vulgar or rude it may seem to someone. Best stated by Amazon Prime pundit Seedorf, “He said wherever he goes these things happen, so he’s saying it’s OK when Vinícius provokes you, that is it OK to be racist and I think that is very wrong. We should never, ever justify racial abuse.”. It is one thing to defend your players, but to say that someone’s celebration deserves and justifies racial abuse is a staggering and unconscionable opinion for a professional and great of the industry.
Over his eight years at the club, Vinícius Jr. has faced continuous racism, a staggering 20 cases of alleged racial abuse from fans and players alike. Football, or as we say, Soccer, is for everyone, of all races and identities across the world. No one should have to face that kind of abuse just for doing what they love. It’s inexcusable, especially on a world stage like the Champions League.
In Prestianni’s case especially, no one should ever need to cover their mouth to say something on the pitch, because if it’s bad enough that they want no one to know about it, they shouldn’t be saying it in the first place.
As of this article’s release, UEFA, or the Union of European Football Associations, has launched an investigation based on the allegation, and Prestianni faces a 10-match ban if found guilty. He received a preliminary one match ban, but the case continues. Many players, pundits, and legends alike have spoken out in Vinícius Jr’s defense. Mbappe said it best: “… Prestianni should be banned… This kid Prestianni does not deserve to play in the Champions League again,”. “We have to set an example for all the children who look up to us; there are things we can’t accept,”.
