“Racist! Out, Mourinho!” The few Spanish fans who went to Paseo de La Castellana, where the hotel that hosts Benfica in Madrid is located, welcomed the Portuguese club’s players with racket on Tuesday (24).
The cries of “racist” were directed at Argentine Gianluca Prestianni, who traveled with the delegation, despite not being able to enter the field in the Champions League knockout game between Real Madrid and Benfica, scheduled for this Wednesday (25).
Accused by Brazilian Vinicius Junior of having made racist insults during the first leg, in Lisbon, Prestianni was suspended by UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) for “prima facie violation”. The legal term suggests that European football’s governing body considers that, prima facie, there may have been racism, although the investigation into the attire has not been completed. Once the investigations are completed, the penalty – provisionally valid for a single match – may increase.
Prestianni denies the offense, and Benfica bought his version. Taking the player to Madrid was a way for the club to show support for the athlete – who at the end of Tuesday afternoon participated in the pitch recognition training normally, together with his teammates.
Benfica coach José Mourinho, who previously managed Real Madrid, still received some requests for autographs from Spanish fans, but refused to speak to journalists. The coach is suspended and will not be able to manage the team from the bench because he was sent off in the first game, in a situation unrelated to the alleged case of racism. Mourinho also decided not to attend the press conference. He sent technical assistant João Tralhão in his place.
Mourinho has been criticized across Europe for having said, in an interview after the match in Lisbon, that Vinicius Junior should not have celebrated Real Madrid’s winning goal by doing a little dance in front of the corner flag. The statement was interpreted as a justification for Prestianni’s alleged racist act.
On Monday (23), it was the turn of Nigerian Obi Mikel, who was coached by Mourinho at Chelsea, to criticize the old commander. “You mean there should be a manual on how a black player should celebrate?”, said the former player, in an interview with a sports podcast.
“It was a completely clumsy comment. My former boss shouldn’t have said that. He is an intelligent man and knows that when he says something like that, he is not representing himself, but also his country, Portugal, and his club, Benfica”, continued Mikel, echoing the criticisms of several other former players, including the Brazilian Luisão, one of the biggest idols in the recent history of the Portuguese team.
The idea that unconditional support for Prestianni could bring image damage to a club with a global fan base has been defended by experts in sports communication. “A lot of black people around the world love Benfica, and the club seems to be telling them that it doesn’t understand what they’re going through and doesn’t want to understand it,” said Portuguese Luís Vaz Fernandes, who lives in London, where he does communications consultancy for British and Portuguese organizations.
“Benfica sided with a potential aggressor. This sends a bad message to the fans and to Benfica’s black players themselves,” said Fernandes. A recent survey on political and cultural habits in Portuguese-speaking countries, carried out by the Brazilian institute Ipespe (Institute for Social, Political and Economic Research), showed that citizens of Portuguese-speaking African nations prefer to follow Portuguese clubs over Brazilian ones – and Benfica has a large fan base in these countries.
Two videos shown in recent days on Benfica’s social networks increased the controversy surrounding the alleged racist act that occurred last week. One of them, inspired by the television series “Lupin”, aimed to promote Benfica’s new away uniform, designed by the artist Vhils, author of several graffiti spread throughout the streets of Lisbon.
In the video, a Benfica player, Belgian Dodi Lukebakio, sneaks into the club’s facilities to steal a kit of t-shirts and then distribute them among his teammates. “Benfica lacked sensitivity when putting a black man in the role of a thief. This is archaic racism. Releasing the video right after what happened at Estádio da Luz also represented a terrible sense of timing,” said Fernandes.
In another video shown throughout the week, Benfica showed on its social networks a black boy who became known in Portugal for saving the life of his mother, who fainted while driving the car. The nine-year-old boy called emergency medical services giving the exact location of the vehicle, which made the rescue possible.
“Benfica provided the boy with a visit to Estádio da Luz and showed it on social media in the same week as the Vinicius Junior incident. The timing was bad, as it sounded opportunistic”, noted the communications consultant.
“No matter how many advertising campaigns against racism are carried out, nothing sends a more powerful message than exemplarily punishing a player,” concluded Fernandes. If UEFA considers that there was a racist offense, Prestianni could face at least a ten-game suspension.
