Liverpool manager Arne Slot said more needs to be done to prevent racism in football following allegations by Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior that he was the target of racist insults by Benfica’s Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Real’s 1-0 victory in the first game of the Champions League playoff against Benfica, on Tuesday (17), was overshadowed by Vinicius’ accusation that Prestianni directed a racist insult at him, an accusation denied by the Portuguese club, the player and coach José Mourinho.
UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), the entity that governs European football, reported that it is analyzing the incident, which led to the match being stopped for 11 minutes, in accordance with FIFA’s (International Football Federation) anti-racism protocol.
“In general, you can never do enough, you can always do more to ensure that this (racism in football) never happens again,” Slot told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s visit to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday (22) in the Premier League.
“We have to try, as a football community, to do more than society does. That’s maybe not that difficult, in fact. The protocol was followed in the game, that’s the first step,” he said.
“I would expect my players to act in a similar way — immediately address the problem, and for the referee to act in the same way.”
Regarding the game against Forest, Slot expects a different formation under the Birmingham club’s new manager Vitor Pereira compared to the November clash when Liverpool lost 3-0 at Anfield.
Former Wolverhampton coach, the Portuguese coach with spells at Corinthians and Flamengo was hired last Sunday to replace the fired Sean Dyche.
“We’ll only have tonight (Thursday) to see if this new coach changes the squad,” said Slot, referring to Forest’s first game under Pereira’s command, against Fenerbahçe, in the Europa League playoff.
“The good thing is they have this game, and the manager was in the Premier League last season.”
The Dutchman said Jeremie Frimpong is still out this weekend, but defender Joe Gomez is ready to start playing if necessary.
Slot said his team has improved in recent months, with Liverpool sixth in the table with 42 points from 26 games.
“We have improved compared to three or four months ago. We are in a much better situation than we were a few months ago,” the 47-year-old added.
“There are other reasons, but the two simplest are our better fitness and the fact that we are much better at set pieces at the moment.”
Forest are in 17th place, one place and three points above West Ham, who are in the relegation zone.
