'Gianluca Prestianni is not racist' - Benfica president hits out at 'unfair' suspension of Argentine winger after Vinicius Junior clash

The controversy stems from an incident where Prestianni was involved in a heated exchange with Vinicius Jr shortly after the Brazilian opened the scoring in Lisbon in the first leg of last week's Champions League play-off tie. While UEFA has opened an investigation and handed down a provisional one-match suspension, Costa insists that the player’s character is being unfairly maligned before all the facts are established. Speaking to the press, the former AC Milan playmaker made it clear that the club remains fully supportive of the 20-year-old.

Addressing the media at the airport ahead of the squad's flight to Spain, Costa expressed his frustration with the timing and nature of the disciplinary action. "I wasn't on the field to know what was said or not said; in a situation like that, a lot can be said. We believe our player's word, who is being labelled a racist, but he is anything but racist," he said.

"We always defended the player, we always kept the player informed of everything we were doing, and I'm only speaking now because there was a decision, even if not final and even if unfair, in our perspective. It wasn't justified for the president to speak before the process was finalised. In the end, there was no sentence, there's only a suspension, but there was no point in talking about a matter that was still in process."

While defending his own player, Costa also took aim at what he perceives as a double standard regarding the conduct of Real Madrid players. Specifically, the Benfica chief highlighted an incident involving Federico Valverde and Samuel Dahl, where the Uruguayan allegedly threw a punch to break free from the Swede's tight marking. Despite Benfica’s complaints to UEFA, Valverde escaped punishment and is set to feature in the second leg, a decision that has clearly rubbed the Lisbon hierarchy the wrong way.

Costa was quick to clarify that he wasn't using the Valverde incident as a distraction, but rather as a point of sporting fairness, stating: "One thing does not eliminate the other and we do not want to use the other case to annul the Prestianni situation, but we cannot forget what happened in the home game. There is a clear aggression from Valverde, who should be out of this game."

The task for Benfica is formidable, especially given they will be without the suspended Jose Mourinho in the dugout. The former Real Madrid manager saw red in the first leg and will have to watch from the stands as his side attempts to overturn a 1-0 aggregate deficit against one of his old clubs. However, Costa remains confident, reminding everyone that they have already beaten the Spanish giants once this season during the league phase of the competition.

"There is no need to point out the degree of difficulty that this game has. Reversing the result at the Bernabéu is of a very high degree of difficulty, but ambition and belief are unshakable. We’ve already tasted it this year. Let’s play this game with all our weapons, hoping to be able to do our job," he concluded.