What Happened Between Gianluca Prestianni and Vinicius Jr.?

What Caused The Kicking Off Between Gianluca Prestianni and Vinicius Jr?

On Tuesday evening in the Champions League a huge argument kicked off following a confrontation between Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr and Benfica youngster Gianluca Prestianni.

The incident saw a ten minute pause in the game in which it appeared as though the Madrid players may walk off of the pitch and abandon the game in protest.

At the time nobody was really sure as to what had transpired but since it has been revealed that Prestianni allegedly racially abused Vinicius Jr and UEFA have launched an investigation into the case.

🚨 Vinícius Jr. has been the target of 20 ACTS OF RACISM, directly or indirectly, since he arrived in Europe in 2018.

One of these cases resulted in a historic decision, with three Valencia fans being sentenced to 8 months in prison and banned from stadiums for 2 years, marking… pic.twitter.com/GaVxudbrFV

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) February 18, 2026

Prestianni Has Claimed Innocence

Following the game as it was brought to light that he had allegedly racially abused Vinicius Jr, Gianluca took to Instagram to attempt to clear his name.

His post stated the following;

"I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard,

"I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players."

If found guilty by UEFA's ethics and disciplinary inspector, Prestianni will face a ten game suspension, the mandatory punishment was introduced in 2013 by Gianni Infantino.

🚨 Kylian Mbappé: “Prestianni clearly called Vini Jr a monkey, it happened five times”.

“I saw that. UEFA have the best cameras, now we wait. This is not acceptable. It’s not my kind of human being”. pic.twitter.com/XsXCxDRpoW

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 17, 2026

A Disappointing Response

Following the game Benfica manager Jose Mourinho addressed the incident in his post match interview which has been deemed highly disappointing by the football community and fans.

Mourinho indicated that he believed Vinicius Jr was disrespectful with his celebration after scoring and stated that because of Eusebio's iconic status with Benfica the club is not a racist club.

He also directly said that he believed that Vinicius had in fact incited the crowd and that he had spoken to both Vincius Jr and Prestianni who had both told him different things but he didn't believe one or the other and wanted to remain an independent in the situation.

The main controversy is how easy it would have been for Mourinho to condemn racial abuse and show compassion to a victim of it and that he will see what happens with UEFA's investigation however he instead opted to partially blame the Brazilian winger and use a strange analogy to say the club isn't racist.

Benfica have also posted to their social media siding with their player, either way we will have to see what comes of the investigation and hope that strong condemning action is taken if Prestianni is found guilty as there is no place for such disgusting abuse in football.

🚨 BREAKING! 🤯

José Mourinho: “I told Vinicius Jr. the celebration had to be different. This club has Eusebio as a legend, a black player…”

“Benfica is NOT a racist club.” pic.twitter.com/a8R2muVCX1

— Polymarket FC (@PolymarketFC) February 17, 2026