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During the knockout play offs of the UEFA champions league between Real Madrid and SL Benfica at Lisbon, the play was interrupted in a dramatic moment when Real Madrid forward, Vinícius Jr. alleged that Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni had made a racist remark against him on the field. It happened soon after Vinicicus had scored the sole goal of the night to give Real Madrid a 1-0 lead that led him to run to the referee Francois Letexier and report the supposed abuse. The referee then invoked FIFA anti racism procedure halting the match in favor of approximately ten minutes during which time the players and officials deliberated the event that took place.
Prestianni, an Argentine young winger who signed to Benfica following Velez Sarsfield has refuted the claims claiming that Vinicius had misinterpreted what was said and asserted that he had never been a racist to anyone. The order started when Prestianni came to talk to Vinicius when the Brazilian was celebrating, and seemed to talk to him with his shirt over his mouth, an action which Vinicius took to mean that Prestianni had tried to conceal a racist insult. Vinicius subsequently went online to condemn racism and wrote, among other things, that racists are, after all, cowards, and drew attention to what he termed the cowardice of such statements.
Other players responded to the incident with serious emotions, with Kylian Mbappe openly demanding that Prestianni be disciplined on the matter, stating that he ought not to play in the champions league any more. The game then went back on, and concluded with Real Madrid 1-0 but still the scandal shadowed the game again and sparked further debate on racism in football and the success of anti racism measures during major tournament games.
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