Benfica manager Jose Mourinho has declared that ‘it has not been easy’ for him and his team after Vinicius Junior suffered alleged racial abuse from winger Gianluca Prestianni. The Portuguese manager has also received heavy criticism for his comments after the game, and spoke again for the first time since Tuesday.
Mourinho criticised Vinicius after the game, saying that the Real Madrid star provoked the fans with his celebrations, and refusing to side with either Vinicius or Prestianni. The Brazilian is reportedly furious with his comments, while Lilian Thuram said his comments ‘reek of white superiority’.
Mourinho on Benfica team after alleged racism incident
UEFA have opened an investigation into the incident, after Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe both claimed that they had heard Prestianni call Vinicius ‘monkey’. Prestianni has denied insulting Vinicius. On Friday, Mourinho was asked
“The match was truly demanding in every aspect. Up until the 50th minute, it was a game of maximum intensity, both physically and tactically, requiring the necessary concentration to play at that level. But I must also admit that from the 50th minute until now, it hasn’t been easy to emotionally manage everything that has happened and continues to happen. But tomorrow (Saturday against AVS) there’s an important match for our ambitions and dreams. Winning is fundamental. We need to concentrate and be at our best,” Mourinho commented to Diario AS.
🚨 Mourinho vuelve a pronunciarse sobre el incidente de Vinicius en el Benfica-Real Madrid:
🔙 “Desde el minuto 51 hasta ahora, y no terminará, no ha sido fácil”. pic.twitter.com/UVOpvxZnXr
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) February 20, 2026
Aursnes an injury doubt for Real Madrid tie
If Prestianni does play at the Bernabeu, he will be fresh after missing Benfica’s tie with AVS this weekend. Midfielder Fredrik Aursnes is a doubt though.
“Gianluca Prestianni is suspended for the league match, and I have no problem anticipating that Fredrik Aursnes will have to stop if we have any hope of him being able to play in Madrid. He’s not fit to play tomorrow. So we’ll do something, but always bearing in mind that the match is difficult and that we have to win.”
Vincent Kompany chimes in with Mourinho criticism
Meanwhile Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany has been applauded for his comments on the matter, where he classified Mourinho’s words as ‘almost worse.’
“For me, what happened afterward is almost worse. Jose Mourinho basically attacked Vini’s character by mentioning his type of celebration to discredit what he was doing at that moment. It was a huge mistake in terms of leadership.”
“When Mourinho, who has run down the touchline at Old Trafford, when he is celebrating with Inter in front of the Barcelona fans, when he was with AS Roma against Sevilla, in these moments, if someone had racially abused Mourinho, I hope we would also say ‘stop, it doesn’t matter what he’s doing’.”
🚨 Kompany defiende a Vinicius y ataca a Mourinho:
❌ “Fue un error en cuanto a liderazgo”. pic.twitter.com/R62UCNb4zK
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) February 20, 2026
During his post-match press conference, Mourinho declared that Benfica is not a racist club, and their greatest player was black – Eusebio.
“He said that Benfica can’t be racist because their greatest player of all time was Eusebio. Does he know what Black players had to go through in the 1960s? Was he there traveling with Eusebio to every away game to see what he suffered? To use his name today to argue against Vini…”
“Honestly, I don’t see my place in many of the things that are happening today, so I don’t want to be part of one group or another. I’ve met 100 people who worked with Jose Mourinho. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him. All his players love him. I understand the kind of person he is, I understand that he fights for his club. I know that, deep down, he’s a good person. I don’t need to judge him for that,”
“I know what I’ve heard. I understand what he did, but he made a mistake. I hope it doesn’t happen again in the future and we can move forward together.”
