Contrary to what was published by the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã this Thursday (26), Benfica stated that Gianluca Prestinianni did not assume have been racist towards Vinícius Junior during the first game Champions Leaguelast week.
In a statement, the Portuguese club “categorically denied that the player had communicated to the squad or the club’s management that he had uttered any racist insult” against the Real Madrid player.
The information had been published by Correio da Manhã itself. According to the vehicle, the Argentine confessed to his colleagues that he had used the word “monkey”, but that he was unaware of the racist nature it carried. The player would have even presented videos arguing that this was not the insult.
Benfica’s note also says that Prestianni “apologized to his colleagues for the incident that occurred during the match with Real Madrid, regretting the scale and consequences of it and assuring everyone, as he did from the beginning, that it is not racist.”
