One former Benfica player has gone against the club and criticised Gianluca Prestianni
Former Benfica captain Luisao says he is ashamed by Gianluca Prestianni’s conduct during last night’s Champions League game against Real Madrid.
Argentine Prestianni denies the allegation, and said his accusers were “inventing things”, but Luisao is firmly on the side of his fellow Brazilian.
The 45-year-old, who made over 300 appearances for Benfica and won 44 caps for his country, wrote on social media: “This shirt is very big, I love Benfica, it’s my second skin. You have to be worthy to wear the sacred mantle. This incident gets worse because it’s a lie… football is won in the race, in the fight… It was a racist act, yes and I’m ashamed of it.”
Benfica continue to stand by Prestianni
Benfica appear to be standing by Prestianni and released video footage in the early hours that they claim shows no other Madrid player can claim to hear what Vinicius Jr has alleged.
However, the film shows Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe already in dialogue with Prestianni before the Benfica man then covers his mouth and appears to make a remark towards Vinicius Jr.
Benfica boss Jose Mourinho also refused to criticise Prestianni and even cited the club’s former striker Eusebio as one reason to cast doubt on the allegations.
He said: “I told [Vinicius], when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black.
“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.
“They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be an independent.”