Real Madrid defender Trent Alexander-Arnold has slammed the alleged racial abuse aimed at teammate Vinicius Junior during Tuesday’s Champions League play-off first leg against Benfica.
The ugly incident occurred shortly after Vinicius gave Madrid the lead with a sublime curler five minutes into the second half.
Vinicius reported the alleged racial abuse from Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni to referee Francois Letexier. The Brazilian then left the pitch, which halted the game for about 10 minutes.
The Brazilian international has suffered from repeated racial abuse during his time at Madrid. This is the latest in a long line of incidents that have affected the player’s mental health over the years.
Vinicius then took to his Instagram to rip into Prestianni, who has also denied the allegations.
“Racists are, above all, cowards,” Vinicius wrote (via BBC). “They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are.
“But they have the protection of others who, theoretically, have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or in my team’s life.”
Alexander-Arnold is the latest to express his opinion about the situation. He called it a ‘disgrace to football’ and reiterated the message that there is no place for racism in football or society.
Benfica manager Jose Mourinho also weighed in on the situation, blaming Vinicius for being disrespectful during his goal celebration.
He doubled down by claiming Vinicius incited the Benfica crowd and leapt to the defence of his employers by shutting down the notion that they are racists.
“I told [Vinicius], when you score a goal like that, you just celebrate and walk back,” Mourinho said.
“When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black. This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.”
Mourinho’s comments left many people disappointed, including ex-Madrid midfielder Clarence Seedorf, who said he ‘made a big mistake to justify racial abuse’.
Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has called for Prestianni to be banned from playing in the Champions League. An investigation is ongoing to get to the bottom of the ugly incident.
