FIFA upheld UEFA ban, denting Prestianni's Argentina World Cup hopes | OneFootball

The highest governing body of world football accepted UEFA’s request. The Benfica player will not be able to play in the group-stage matches against Algeria and Austria if Lionel Scaloni decides to include him in the 26-man squad for the World Cup in North America.

FIFA accepted UEFA’s request and extended Gianluca Prestianni’s suspension so that it also applies internationally. As a result, if Lionel Scaloni decides to include him in the World Cup squad for the tournament in North America, he will not be able to count on him for the first two group-stage matches against Algeria and Austria.

The Benfica player was sanctioned by UEFA for abuse against Vinicius Jr., deemed homophobic, during a Champions League match. With a six-match suspension, three of them suspended for two years and liable to be lifted through probation, after serving one in the return leg of the tie in Madrid, the player still had two matches pending.

FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee accepted the request stemming from this incident, which led to the ‘Prestianni-Vinicius Law’ at an extraordinary IFAB meeting during the recent 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, in the application of Article 70 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, as sources from the international body told Doble Amarilla.

In the provisional suspension received by the Argentine attacking midfielder after the incident in Lisbon, where the Brazilian reported a racist attitude by Prestianni, there is now a ruling that affects the future of the ‘Albiceleste’ national team player, who was called up by Scaloni for the last two March friendlies in the country and was on the bench in the second match against Zambia, though he did not play.

To this show of support from Scaloni with the call-up for the last FIFA international window before the final squad is announced on May 30, along with the words of the national team coach himself, were added the remarks of his Benfica manager, Portuguese coach José Mourinho, after UEFA’s announcement.

Prestianni broke his silence after the controversy with Vinicius: from “I was not and never will be racist” to “they punished me without evidence”

“It hurt me that they accused me of something I never did. I’m very calm because everyone who knows me knows the kind of person I am,” said the Argentina national team midfielder when speaking on the matter.

In the same vein, he thanked the support of the federation and his teammates: “They always believed in me, they know me, they know what I’m like.” And he lashed out at UEFA over the sanction he received: “They punished me without evidence.”

In another passage, he said: “I also heard what Kylian Mbappé said to me, they called me racist when I never was and never will be, the idea was to prove it on the pitch and they didn’t do that”.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.