Mbappe also said he would have left the pitch after the incident and not continued, had that been what Vinicius Jr wanted.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has backed a claim that Benfica winger, Gianluca Prestianni, racially abused his team-mate Vinicius Junior.
Mbappe levelled the allegation after the match when he appeared in the stadium’s mixed zone to lay out his version of events.
Real Madrid defeated Benfica 1-0 in the Champions League play-off first leg on Tuesday night at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (da Luz). However, the encounter was overshadowed by the alleged racist abuse suffered by goalscorer Vinicius Jr.
Benfica started the game confidently following their dramatic 4-2 win against Madrid in January’s final league-phase game, but the visiting side began to dominate leading up to half-time.
The match was still goalless shortly after the break when the incident occurred which dominated the night—and which could lead to serious repercussions for those involved.
Vinicius Jr received a pass from team-mate Kylian Mbappe, dribbled away from Benfica right-back Amar Dedic, and curled a superb, right-footed shot into the far top corner of the goal.
He then celebrated by dancing at the corner flag. Many Benfica fans and players were upset by the gesture, including captain Nicolas Otamendi. Players from both sides began to push and shove each other.
Referee Francois Letexier showed a yellow card to Vinicius Jr for his role in the confrontation, drawing a bemused look from the goalscorer.
Prestianni was among those who appeared unhappy with the Vinicius Jr celebration, and the Argentine continued to exchange words with the Brazilian as the players returned to their own halves.
At one point, he appeared to raise his shirt to cover his mouth as he spoke; Vinicius Jr took offence at something he heard and immediately ran towards the referee to report it.
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Prestianni, however, denied saying anything racist. Letexier listened and then crossed his hands to signal that the racist abuse protocol was being implemented.
The Brazilian—who has suffered racist abuse at multiple Spanish stadiums in the past—then left the pitch and made his way to the bench. He appeared reluctant to return to the field of play.
Eventually, the Madrid players—including Vinicius Jr—all returned to the pitch, and play restarted after a delay of almost 10 minutes.
Through the remainder of the game, Benfica fans whistled and jeered the Madrid players, especially the Brazilian winger.
Speaking after the game, Mbappe—who has spoken of suffering racist abuse earlier in his career—recounted what transpired.
The French forward stressed that he was close by and heard Prestianni repeatedly refer to his team-mate as a “monkey”.
“Vinicius scored a great goal, he went to dance, the fans whistled him, which can happen,” Mbappe told reporters. “Then there is a moment of tension with the Benfica players, which should not happen, but can happen too; everyone wants to defend their club.
“Then the No. 25 of Benfica—I don’t want to say his name, he does not deserve it—began to speak badly, which can happen too in football. But then he put his shirt over his face to say that Vinicius is a monkey, five times. I heard it; there are Benfica players who heard it too. From that point, all that you saw happened.”
Mbappe also said he would have left the pitch after the incident and not continued, had that been what Vinicius Jr wanted.
“We thought about leaving the pitch,” the 27-year-old said. “I said to Vini, whatever you want to do, we’ll do it, as a team. I said before we’d never leave Vini alone; as a team, we have to support our player. It was the team’s decision. We have focused on what we had to do, we won the game. But today the game is not the most important thing. What happened is much more important than football.”
