Benfica have come out in defence of Gianluca Prestianni following an accusation of racial abuse levelled at him by Vinicius Junior. The Real Madrid player informed the referee that he had been called a monkey by Prestianni, and the anti-racism protocol was activated during their Champions League clash. Prestianni has declared that he did insult Vinicius racially.
UEFA have now opened an investigation into the matter, while Kylian Mbappe, Alvaro Arbeloa, Fede Valverde, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Aurelien Tchouameni all came out in support of their teammate. In particular, Mbappe claimed that ‘what he saw was clear’, that Prestianni called Vinicius a monkey on five occasions.
Benfica deny Mbappe account of events
Since, Benfica have released a video on social media of the incident. They caption the video with the following, which would appear to be a response to Mbappe’s words.
As the images demonstrate, given the distance, the Real Madrid players could not have heard what they claim to have heard.
Como demonstram as imagens, dada a distância, os jogadores do Real Madrid não podem ter ouvido o que andam a dizer que ouviram. pic.twitter.com/7JF9AVuhEM
— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) February 18, 2026
The video shows Vinicius and Prestianni arguing, and after Vinicius goes to tell the referee about the incident, Mbappe and Eduardo Camavinga remain in their positions, seemingly uncertain of what has happened.
Benfica double down on support for Prestianni
On top of that video, Benfica have thrown their support behind Prestianni. After his post on Instagram denying that he had racially abused Vinicius, Benfica posted his message on Twitter/X. This time they captioned it with ‘Together, by your side.’
Juntos, ao teu lado. pic.twitter.com/RLxQ7Vm0W9
— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) February 18, 2026
Prestianni punishment likely to hinge on audio evidence
For Vinicius, the unfortunate thing is that it seems unlikely that Prestianni can be punished without evidence of his insult. So far, no audio of Prestianni’s insults has been recovered, and as things stand, it is the Brazilian’s word against that of Prestianni. During his own statement after the match, Vinicius claimed that ‘those with an obligation to punish’ are protecting racists.
