A sublime Vinicius Junior strike was enough to hand Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Benfica in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League knockout playoffs in Lisbon on Tuesday, it was however marred by alleged racist abuse towards the Brazilian superstar, Afrosport reports.
The fixture was seen as the biggest of this round after the Portuguese side, led by former Los Blancos boss Jose Mourinho, won 4-2 to sneak into the playoff spots while Madrid dropped out of the top eight to narrowly finish ninth.
It was a feisty tie in the Portuguese capital on Tuesday, with the scoreline goalless at halftime. Things however took a turn when Vinicius struck a sublime effort from the edge of the penalty area in the 50th minute that gave goalkeeper, Anatoliy Trubin, who scored the fourth goal in the league phase encounter, no chance of stopping.
Vinicius went towards Benfica supporters to celebrate his goal but soon turned to the referee, pointing out that he was racially abused. The game was delayed for 10 minutes, with footage pointing towards Benfica and Argentina winger Gianluca Prestianni, who covered his mouth to say something towards Vinicius, which Kylian Mbappe stated he heard him call the Brazilian monkey five times.
Vinicius, who has been subject to racist abuse multiple times in the Spanish La Liga, walked off the pitch and sat on the bench for a while in protest but returned to the pitch, with the game restarting and Madrid ultimately holding out for the victory.
After the game, Vinicius took to social media to hit out at the vile act.
“Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are,” he said on his Instagram Stories.
“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.”
Prestianni meanwhile defended himself, denying he engaged in racist behaviour, a stance also made by Mourinho, citing having Mozambique-born Portuguese legend Eusebio, as their greatest player.
“I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard,” he said on his Instagram Stories.
“I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players.”
Mourinho said: “I told him, when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be an independent.
“When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person [Eusebio] in the history of this club was black.
“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.”
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Really Madrid have stood behind Vinicius along with his teammates while former players like Thierry Henry, Rio Ferdinand, Clarence Seedorf, Theo Walcott and Micah Richards have stood in solidarity with him.
Vinicius’ former club Flamengo and the Brazilian Football Federation have also supported him while the European football governing body UEFA, have launched an investigation into the matter.
In other Champions League knockout playoff results on Tuesday, Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen provided two assists as Galatasaray thumped Italian giants Juventus 5-2 while reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain came from two goals down to defeat AS Monaco 3-2 and Borussia Dortmund beat Atalanta 2-0.
