Gianluca Prestianni given SIX-GAME BAN by UEFA after being found guilty of using homophobic language towards Vinicius Jr

Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni has been slapped with a six-game ban by UEFA for using homophobic language towards Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr.

During the first leg of their play-off encounter, which Real won 1-0 in Lisbon, Vinicius Jr alleged he was the subject of racist abuse by the 20-year-old after scoring his sublime second-half strike.

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.

Prestianni has since denied racially abusing Vinicius, claiming Vinicius misheard him. Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni said that Prestianni told him he had in fact directed a homophobic comment towards the Brazil forward.

Argentina’s Prestianni will be banned for two further games, having already served a provisional one-match ban, with the other three suspended for two years.

UEFA has made a request to FIFA to extend the ban worldwide.

Prestianni would have faced a minimum 10-match ban from European competition if he had been found guilty of racist abuse.