Benfica fans spotted directing racist gestures at Vinicius Junior as Jose Mourinho's remarks age poorly

Real Madrid's 1-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League has been overshadowed by allegations of racism. Vinicius Jr accused Prestianni of racism during the game and issued a statement after the match calling the Benfica winger a "coward." Team-mate Kylian Mbappe has said he heard Prestianni call Vinicius a monkey "five times" and has called on the winger to be banned from the Champions League. Prestianni has denied the accusations and says he did not direct racist insults at the Brazil international.

Meanwhile, Benfica fans are now in the spotlight after videos emerged online showing supporters directing racist gestures at Vinicius. 

The footage comes after Mourinho defended his club from allegations of racism and questioned Vinicius's celebration after he scored the winning goal. He told reporters: "It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. These talents are able to do these beautiful things, but unfortunately not just happy to score astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way." 

The Benfica boss added: "The words that they exchange Gianluca Prestianni with Vinicius, I want to be an independent. I saw two completely different things. I want to be independent, and I don't comment about it. I told him [Vinicius Jr] exactly that. I told him, 'when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back.' When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person [Eusebio] in the history of this club was black. This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that, this is Benfica. They [Vinicius Jr and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don't believe in one or another. I want to be an independent."

Former Barcelona and Arsenal star Thierry Henry has urged Prestianni to clarify exactly what he said to Vinicius. He said on CBS Sports: "Let’s see how big of a man Prestianni is. Tell us what you said. You must have said something, because you can’t go to Mbappe and say, ‘I didn’t say anything’. What do you mean, you covered your nose for what, you have a cold?"

He went on to add: "I can relate to what Vinicius is going through. That happened to me so many times on the pitch. I talked about it so many times after games. I’ve also been accused of looking for excuses after games when that happened to me. At times, you feel lonely, because it’s going to be your word against his word. We don’t know what Prestianni has said, because he was very courageous by putting his shirt over his mouth to make sure that we weren’t going to see what he said, so clearly, already, you look suspicious. Because you didn’t want people to see or read what you said. Then, the reaction of Vinicius is telling me that something not right happened. We still don’t know what was said. Vinicus can tell us his side, and Prestianni, I’m sure, will not tell us what he actually said, because I saw at one point Kylian Mbappe confront him, and he said, ‘I didn’t say anything’.

"Well, he must have said something at the very least. You feel like you don’t know what to do anymore. We’re in 2026 and still after a game like that, where we’re supposed to talk about his brilliant goal, we shouldn’t be having to deal with the referee telling you to not go to the corner flag, because that will incite the crowd."

A UEFA investigation into the events during the match at the Estadio da Luz is expected once the match reports have been reviewed. Both teams will meet again next week at the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg of the Champions League knockout stage play-off tie, with Real Madrid taking a 1-0 lead into the game. Benfica boss Jose Mourinho will be absent from the touchline after being sent off in the final minutes of the first leg for dissent.