Homophobic insults "are normal for us": Gianluca Prestianni plays down the incident involving Vinicius Junior and causes another row

"Mbappé calls me a 'bloody racist'?" Prestianni railed against the French superstar and the Real Madrid players in an interview with Telefe. "They call me a racist, even though I’ve never been one and never will be. They insult you to throw you off your game, but I would never react to that; on the contrary, it’s about proving yourself on the pitch."

According to Spanish media reports, Mbappé had claimed categorically in the tunnel after the match that "the player with the number 25 called Vini a monkey five times. I saw it myself." The Spanish word 'mono' translates as 'monkey', but according to Prestianni, Mbappé had misheard.

Instead, the 20-year-old had merely called his opponent Vinicius Junior a 'cagon' (coward) and a 'maricon' (faggot) from behind his shirt during the match, though he added that this was "a normal insult for us Argentinians".

“I’ve had teammates who were the same skin colour as Vinicius, and nothing ever happened with any of them – quite the opposite,” Prestianni continued. “Then they started calling me homophobic, which was going too far. I felt that people just wanted to make a drama out of things that weren’t true.”

Following an ongoing investigation, UEFA provisionally suspended the Argentine for the second leg, which Benfica lost 1–2 and were ultimately knocked out. "Not being allowed to play in the second leg really hurt me," said Prestianni, who ultimately sees himself as the victim: "I was punished for something I didn’t even say. I was treated and sanctioned without any evidence."

A final UEFA ruling is still pending, although Prestianni has indirectly admitted, through his statements, to a breach of Article 14, which states that human dignity must not be violated. The minimum penalty for this would be a ten-match ban.

Nevertheless, Prestianni remains "very relaxed, because everyone who knows me knows what kind of person I am, and that’s enough for me. I’m also very grateful to the club, because they believed in me and supported me in every way. My teammates have shown me their support behind closed doors, and that means much more to me than posting an Instagram story."