Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni has doubled down on his claim that he called Vinicius Jr a homophobic slur rather than a racist one in his first interview since the incident.
The Champions League play-off contest between Benfica and Madrid in February was halted for 10 minutes when Vinicius Jr accused his opponent of racially abusing him moments after he put the visitors in the lead in Lisbon.
Video footage showed Vinicius and Prestianni walking towards one another, before the latter lifted his shirt over his mouth. Moments later, Vinicius raced over to referee Francois Letexier to report racial abuse.
He claimed Prestianni called him a ‘monkey’. His team-mate, Kylian Mbappe, who was in close vicinity of the exchange, corroborated his claim.
In the days that followed, Madrid star Aurelien Tchouameni told the media that the Benfica star claimed he did not aim a racist slur at Vinicius, but made a homophobic remark instead.
Now, Prestianni has doubled down on that claim, insisting that he did use a homophobic slur – but that it is ‘normal’ for Argentines to use the word.
Gianluca Prestianni has doubled down on his claim that he used a homophobic slur against Vinicius Jr, not a racist one
‘Yes, yes, I heard it, but for us Argentines it is a normal insult,’ he told Mi Telefe. ‘You are insulting, you are treating someone as racist that I never was and I never will be.
‘For us Argentines, it is like an insult and nothing more, like taking you out of the game, but I never wanted to react and I will not react, that is, no matter what they say to me in an insult, I would never react, on the contrary.
‘I’m very grateful to the team, to the coaching staff of Benfica, who waited for me until the last minute so that I could play (in the second leg). I had to talk to my team-mates of course, because there are team-mates of the same colour as Vinicius and nothing ever happened with my team-mates, on the contrary.
‘Then they wanted to try to treat me as homophobic. It was to generate trouble for certain things that are not. For us Argentines (they) are normal insults, like f****t, s***.
‘Luckily the team (and) the coaching staff supported me.’
On X, Prestianni initially questioned what he felt was a subdued initial reaction from Vinicius’s team-mates, given the gravity of the accusation levelled against him. He also explained why he raised his shirt over his mouth.
‘If they keep saying that SUPPOSEDLY I made a racist comment to Vinicius Junior, then why didn’t any of them react?’ he asked. ‘Accusing someone of something serious isn’t right, and even less so when it’s not true.
‘And everyone pointing fingers at me for covering up with my shirt when they know that all soccer players cover their mouths to talk. Don’t try to make up more.’
UEFA have not announced an outcome to their investigation.
