Although Real Madrid have eliminated Benfica from the Champions League to secure their place in the Round of 16, the controversy surrounding the incident between Vinicius Jr. and Gianluca Prestianni continues to escalate.
A recent report from the Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha alleged that Prestianni admitted to his teammates that he did, in fact, direct a racial slur toward the Brazilian forward during the first leg.
In response to these claims, Benfica issued a new statement on Thursday, once again coming to the defense of the 20-year-old midfielder and categorically denying the report.
“Benfica categorically deny that the player Prestianni informed the squad or the Club’s structure that he had made a racist insult toward Vinícius Júnior of Real Madrid,” the club stated in an official statement.
“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 scale and consequences, and assuring everyone — just as he did from the very first moment — that he is not racist,” the statement concluded.
Prestianni criticizes UEFA
After UEFA reached a final decision to uphold Prestianni’s provisional suspension for the second leg against Real Madrid—rejecting Benfica’s appeal to have the player available—Prestianni broke his silence in a now-deleted post where he took a direct shot at the European governing body.
Writing on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Prestianni described UEFA as ‘a disgrace,’ alleging that ‘they’re not even trying to hide their bias against Real Madrid anymore.’ However, just minutes after the post went live, Prestianni opted to delete it.
The outburst follows a highly contentious week for the player, who was sidelined for the decisive matchup at the Santiago Bernabeu while UEFA continues its investigation into racism allegations made by Vinicius Jr.