Gianluca Prestianni has been provisionally suspended for Wednesday’s Champions League return leg against Real Madrid by UEFA following the Vinicius Junior racism incident last week.
During Real’s 1-0 win at Benfica last Tuesday night, Vinicius alleged he was the subject of racist abuse by Prestianni after scoring his sublime second-half strike.
And on Monday, UEFA announced that the Benfica winger has been given a provisional one-match ban following the appointment of a UEFA ethics and disciplinary inspector (EDI) to investigate the incident.
UEFA said further punishment could be handed out once the investigation is completed.
‘Upon request of the EDI with an interim report, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body today decided to provisionally suspend Mr. Gianluca Prestianni for the next UEFA club competition match for which he would otherwise be eligible for the prima facie violation of Article 14 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations related to a discriminatory behaviour,’ their statement read.
‘This is without prejudice to any ruling that the UEFA disciplinary bodies may subsequently make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and its respective submission to the UEFA disciplinary bodies.’
Vinicius Jr’s racism allegation towards Gianluca Prestianni
In the aftermath of scoring in the 50th minute, Vinicius left the field and refused to return resulting in a stoppage in play that lasted 10 minutes.
After celebrating his goal in front of the home fans, he became suddenly and visibly upset about something said to him and immediately informed the referee, who stopped the match.
Benfica boss Jose Mourinho, who was roundly criticised for his comments about the incident after the game, will not conduct the usual pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Mourinho appeared to intimate that the winger had brought any abuse upon himself with his celebration, and said that ‘a stadium where Vinicius plays, something happens, always.’
Anti-discriminatory organisation Kick It Out responded by accusing Mourinho of ‘gaslighting’.
Benfica announced on Monday that assistant coach Joao Tralhao will undertake media duties at the Bernabeu, with no explanation given for Mourinho’s absence.
Amazon’s referee analyst Mark Clattenburg was also criticised for comments he made about events on the field in Lisbon, prompting an apology from him the following day.
Benfica later released a statement saying they would appeal against Prestianni’s suspension, though they admitted any challenge was unlikely to result in him being available for the Real match.
The statement added: ‘Sport Lisboa e Benfica also reaffirms its unwavering commitment to combating all forms of racism or discrimination, values that are part of its historical identity and are reflected in its daily actions, its global community, the work of the Benfica Foundation, and major figures in the club’s history, such as Eusebio.’
