Real Madrid CF, through an official statement, confirmed that they had given “all available evidence” to UEFA after their forward Vinicius Júnior made a racial abuse complaint during the Champions League match in Lisbon on Tuesday.
Vincius reached out to the referee, Francois Letexier, for help after enduring racial abuse during the round of 16 play against SL Benfica. The Spanish giant has confirmed that the Brazilian international was the target of the alleged racist abuse by Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni.
UEFA has already announced on Wednesday that it has taken steps by starting a disciplinary investigation into the issue. Madrid said they are ready to offer any help and deemed the matter “inexcusable”.
The game was stopped for 10 minutes while UEFAs anti, racism measures were enforced after Vincius made a complaint. He eventually vented his anger on social media, where he called racists “cowards” and also doubted the efficiency of the mechanism.
Prestianni has completely rejected the accusation of racism; at the same time, Benfica has denounced what it called a “smear campaign”. Their coach, Jose Mourinho, was also criticised by the anti-discrimination group Kick It Out for the comments he made to reporters after the match.
Real Madrid, in their statement, once again emphasized the importance of continuing the fight against racism both in and out of football.
