UEFA has announced the suspension of Gianluca Prestiani following his racist comments towards Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior.
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Published February 23, 2026
UEFA has announced that Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni has been suspended for one match for racially abusing Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior.
The decision, announced on Monday, means Prestiani will miss Wednesday’s Champions League play-off second leg between Real and Benfica at the Bernabéu. Madrid won the first leg 1-0 in Lisbon on Tuesday, with Vinicius scoring the winning goal in the second half.
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After the Brazilian forward scored and was celebrated at Benfica’s corner flag, the match was stopped for nearly 10 minutes, leaving local fans and players upset. After confronting Prestiani, Vinicius accused the Argentine player of calling him a “monkey”.
Prestiani denied racially insulting Vinicius.
Anti-racism protocols were activated, but no further action was taken during the match as there was no evidence against Prestiani, who covered his mouth with his shirt while talking to Vinicius. The Madrid forward was shown a yellow card after celebrating.
UEFA said the Management, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee’s decision related to discriminatory conduct.
“This does not affect any subsequent decisions that the UEFA Disciplinary Authority may make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and their respective submissions to the UEFA Disciplinary Authority,” it said in a statement.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said after the match that he was “shocked and saddened to see the incident of alleged racism” and praised the referee for invoking anti-racism protocols.
Benfica expressed support for Prestiani and accused Madrid players of hearing insults that the Portuguese club was too far away. Benfica subsequently issued a statement welcoming UEFA’s investigation and saying they “fully support and believe” Prestiani’s “actions during his time at the club have always been based on respect for everyone”.
Benfica fans were furious with Vinicius celebrating his 50th-minute goal by dancing in front of the corner flag. They threw bottles and other objects at Madrid players. Prestiani then confronted Vinicius and said something while covering his mouth with his jersey.
Prestiani claimed he had misunderstood Vinicius’ comments, but Benfica players reportedly said after the match that the Argentine had provoked the Brazil striker but had never racially insulted him.
Kylian Mbappé was one of the Madrid players who strongly defended Vinicius, writing in X: “Dance, Vini, never stop. They never tell us what we have to do, what we have to do.”
The French star also said Prestiani should never play in the Champions League again.
