Benfica coach José Mourinho clarified this Sunday (1st) his position on the accusations of racism against Gianluca Prestianni, who was provisionally suspended by UEFA. The coach said that if the accusations are confirmed, the Argentine will never play under his command again.
“If the player is actually guilty, I won’t look at him again the way I’ve been looking at him and it’s over with me”, he assured.
Mourinho highlighted that the presumption of innocence is a right that is provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but that, as a citizen, he repudiates any type of discrimination, prejudice and ignorance.
“If, I repeat many times, if my player did not respect these principles, which are mine and Benfica’s, his career with a coach called Mourinho and at a club like Benfica will come to an end.”
Temporarily suspended by UEFA after being accused by several Real Madrid players of having insulted Vinicius Junior, calling him a “monkey”, in the first leg of the Champions League in Lisbon, Prestianni denies the accusations. He was unable to play the second leg of the tournament’s playoff in Madrid. Real Madrid won 2-1 and eliminated Benfica.
In Lisbon, after scoring the only goal of the game, Vini Jr celebrated with a little dance near the corner flag and then claimed to have received racist insults from Prestianni, although there is no video evidence to confirm this version, as the Argentine covered his mouth with his shirt when addressing Vini Jr.
Despite the lack of conclusive evidence, UEFA decided to provisionally suspend Prestianni, a measure celebrated by Real Madrid’s French midfielder, Aurélien Tchouaméni, as a “victory against racism”.
Until now, Benfica had defended the Argentine midfielder, stating that “he is not racist” and that he had already apologized to his teammates for the incident.
After the first game, in which he was sent off, Mourinho appeared to justify Prestianni’s behavior and accused the Brazilian striker of provoking the Portuguese players and fans with his celebration after the goal.
