Forward criticises racism protocol as “poorly implemented”, and teammates say Real Madrid were prepared to abandon the game
Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior has taken aim at racist “cowards” after his side’s Champions League game against Benfica was brought to a halt for nearly 10 minutes following alleged racial abuse from Gianluca Prestianni.
Vinicius scored four minutes into the second half in Portugal but was yellow-carded after making provocative gestures towards the Benfica fans. Then Benfica player Prestianni, keeping his mouth covered, uttered something at Vinicius.
The Brazilian alerted the referee, who then paused the game following Fifa’s racist abuse protocol.
“Racists are cowards,” Vinicius said on Instagram after the game. “They need to put their shirt over their mouths to show how weak they are.”
He also slammed the racist protocol, saying it is “poorly implemented and doesn’t do anything.”
Madrid defender Trent Alexander-Arnold said: “It’s ruined the night. It’s a disgrace to the sport. It’s a disgrace in society as well. There is no place for it. But if incidents like this do happen, we can only deal with it the way like we did tonight.
“I’m very proud of the team, and the club and the squad and how everyone reacted.”
According to Aurelien Tchouameni, “This can’t happen. Vini told us the guy called him a monkey.”
On the extended break during which it was not certain that Madrid would resume the game, Tchouameni said: “Vini told us we had to keep playing. I said that if there’s a problem, we’ll leave as a team, that’s it. But we talked, and we said we had to win.”
