Prestianni admits to Benfica players he called Vinicius a ‘monkey’ – report | OneFootball

In a major development, Portuguese publication Correio de Manha has sensationally claimed that SL Benfica star Gianluca Prestianni has admitted to his teammates that he called Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. a ‘monkey’.

The incident occurred in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League knockout playoff tie in Estadio da Luz last week, right after the Brazilian had given Real Madrid the lead.

Prestianni, covering his mouth with his shirt, said something which sparked Vinicius into action right away as he immediately ran to the referee and informed he had been abused racially.

The match was halted for close to ten minutes as the referee activated the racism protocols, before the game eventually resumed.

Since then, Vinicius and Kylian Mbappe have stated publicly that Prestianni called him a ‘monkey’, while the Benfica player and the Portuguese club have denied such claims.

Prestianni targeted Vinicius with racist slur. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

The Argentine was handed a provisional one-match ban by UEFA, with the matter under investigation. Benfica appealed the decision but were shot down by the governing body.

It was previously reported that Prestianni had claimed that he did not call Vinicius a ‘monkey’ and he had uttered a homophobic slur at him.

But now, as per the report, he has admitted to his teammates that he did indeed call Vinicius a ‘monkey’.

However, Prestianni listed several arguments to emphasise that he is not racist and that he did not intend to be.

It remains to be seen as to how things develop and if the Argentine is proven guilty, in which case he could be suspended for as long as ten matches.