Aurelien Tchouameni is usually not a guy that the media follows. However, he came into the defense of his Real Madrid teammate, Vinicius Jr., who was allegedly a victim of a racist remark by Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni.
“Vini told us the Prestianni guy called him a m*nkey, but the Benfica player was saying he only called him a f*ggot,” said Tchouameni after the game. Both are serious accusations, and in fact, the referee had to activate the racism protocol during the Champions League game.
The whole argument came to fruition after Vinicius scored an amazing goal, which gave Real Madrid a 1-0 win against Benfica. Vini then proceeded to celebrate in what Benfica players thought was a disrespectful way, dancing around the corner and flashing his name on the back of his shirt to the Benfica fans.
Then, Benfica players started to complain to the Brazilian, and the referee even showed Vinicius the yellow card. However, Prestianni pulled his shirt in front of his mouth and allegedly insulted the Brazilian with a racist comment, drawing the anger from the Real Madrid players. As a matter of fact, Mbappe called for Prestianni to be banned from the Champions League.
Vinicius Jr vs Prestianni wasn’t the only duel that surfaced in the game
While Vinicius and Prestianni had a massive confrontation, it wasn’t the only one. Benfica captain, Nicolas Otamendi, also had quite the argument with Madrid’s megastar Kylian Mbappe.
Otamendi and Mbappe went back-and-forth for quite a while too. After the game, Vinicius Jr. sent a four-word message ahead of the second leg of the Champions League KO phase series. Prestianni’s words were not verified as there was no clear-cut way to prove what he said, given the fact that he used his shirt to cover his mouth.
Vinicius could’ve been sent off, Mourinho did see the red card
During the whole incident, Vini was shown the yellow card because of his celebration. Minutes later, he had an ill-timed tackle from behind against Benfica’s Richard Rios. However, the referee decided to not book him twice.
Benfica’s manager, Jose Mourinho, was adamant in complaining about the action, and instead, he was sent off by the referee. This means Mourinho, who also broke his silence on Vinicius’ racism allegations, won’t be able to seat on the bench for the second leg at the Bernabeu Stadium.