The fallout from the alleged racist abuse during Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over Benfica last week continues, with Gianluca Prestianni publicly defending his innocence. A report in Portugal has claimed that Prestianni has since admitted guilt to his teammates.
Prestianni has reportedly admitted to the UEFA investigation that he used a homophobic slur against Vinicius Junior in Lisbon, but the Brazilian reported that he had called him a monkey to the referee, and his story has been backed by Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid. Benfica have sided with their player, demanding a presumption of innocence, but UEFA provisionally banned Prestianni for the return leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Report claims Prestianni admitted racist abuse to teammates
According to Correia da Manha, Prestianni has admitted to the Benfica squad that he called Vinicius a monkey. However as he did so, he argued to his teammates that he was not racist, and did not intend to use a racist insult.
Benfica deny Prestianni report
Within the hour of the news breaking on their website, Benfica emitted a statement, vehemently denying that any such conversation took place.
Sport Lisboa e Benfica categorically denies that player Prestianni communicated to the squad or the Club’s hierarchy that he had uttered a racist insult to Real Madrid player Vinicius Jr.
As has already been made public, the player apologized to his teammates for the incident that occurred during the match against Real Madrid, regretting its magnitude and consequences and assuring everyone, as he has done from the very beginning, that he is not racist.
Prestianni reaction to UEFA ban
On Wednesday, after Benfica’s appeal against his provisional ban was rejected, Prestianni took to social media to vent his frustration. He referred to UEFA as ‘shameful’, while assuring that there was ‘no evidence’. Teammate Dodi Lukebakio had commented in the lead up to the return leg that he would be ‘unable to forgive’ Prestianni if he did racially abuse Vinicius, while Aurelien Tchouameni called it ‘a victory for all of us’ that Prestianni was not on the pitch.
