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Vinicius Junior was subjected to racial abuse for the home fans (Picture: Getty)
New footage appears to show Benfica fans making racist gestures at Vinicius Junior during Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Real sealed a 1-0 win over Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie in Portugal with Vinicius scoring the winning goal in the 50th minute.
However, the match was overshadowed shortly afterwards when the Brazilian ran towards referee Francois Letexier, claiming that Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni had said a racist insult towards him.
Vinicius’ teammate Kylian Mbappe alleged after the game that Prestianni had called Vinicius ‘mono’ or monkey, although the Argentine refutted those allegations.
Benfica, meanwhile, released footage of the alleged incident and claimed that the Real winger was not close enough to Prestianni to hear what was said.
Speaking after the game, Benfica boss Jose Mourinho said he would not take sides in the incident and pointed to the club’s legendary striker Eusebio as proof that Benfica is not a racist club.
Asked about Vinicius’ goal celebrates, which preceded the alleged racist abuse, Mourinho said: ‘It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately [he was] not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way.
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Jose Mourinho has been criticised for his post-match comments about the incident (Picture: Getty)
Vinicius Junior said ‘racists are cowards’ in a statement after the game (Picture: Getty)
‘I told [Vinicius], when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black.
‘This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.’
Despite those assertions, videos have since emerged online showing two fans in Benfica kits making monkey gestures towards Vinicius.
Vinicius Junior's statement on alleged racial abuse‘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.’
The video was shared on social media by former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand, who spoke at length about the alleged racist abuse directed towards Vinicius.
‘How are we still sitting here talking about racism, for one? But then how are we sitting here trying to justify when someone says something racist,’ Ferdinand said on Instagram.
‘No, I’m not accepting it. Football is called the beautiful game because it is a beautiful game, but this type of rubbish sets it back so much, man, and the authorities have to be stronger on these things.
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‘We’ve said it. We keep saying it. But I can’t understand how we’re trying to justify someone’s poor behaviour, their ignorance, damn right stupidness, just because someone scored an unbelievable goal, a spectacular goal, and he celebrates.
‘How can we have players celebrating and people going ‘oh they shouldn’t do that and it’s okay to be abused because of the celebration’. When these little rats right say this racist stuff they should be called out, they should be told, they should be punished and they shouldn’t be getting no protection.
Ferdinand continued: ‘Normally, you cover your mouth when you’ve got something to hide. If you’re going to say: ‘Vinicius, stop being an idiot’, you ain’t covering your mouth. When you’ve got something to say that’s nasty and disgusting, you’re covering your mouth when you’ve got something to hide.
‘I’m really interested to see how now the authorities, UEFA, deal with this situation. Because you’ve got a great player who scored a goal who’s made the stadium obviously upset, but people around the world are going ‘wow what a moment’ and it’s been ruined and tarnished by the behaviour of one stupid individual.’
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