After Vinicius Jr. brought attention to a racial remark made by opponent Gianluca Prestianni, Real Madrid’s Champions League match versus Benfica was momentarily stopped.
Born on January 31, 2006, Gianluca Prestianni Gross is an Argentine footballer who plays as a winger for both the Argentina national team and Benfica, a team in the Primeira Liga.
Club Career
In a Copa Libertadores encounter against Estudiantes on May 24, 2022, Prestianni made his professional debut for Velez Sarsfield. The British newspaper The Guardian rated him one of the world’s top players born in 2006 on October 11, 2023.
Vélez declared on December 22, 2023, that they had signed a deal with Benfica, a Portuguese club, to sell Prestianni. With €2 million in add-ons and 85% of his economic rights, the purchase brought in €9 million. But the deal wasn’t supposed to be finalised until January 31, 2024, after Prestianni turned eighteen. The transfer was also formally revealed by Benfica, where Prestianni agreed to a deal through 2029. According to reports, he had a €100 million release clause.
Controversy
In a horrible incident, Vinícius Jr. reported a racial remark made to him during Real Madrid’s Champions League knockout play-off match versus Benfica, which was momentarily halted. Vinicius Jr. gave Real Madrid a 1-0 lead just before the incident. Gianluca Prestianni came over to him while he was celebrating and seemed to mumble something while covering his lips with his shirt. Vinicius responded right away and stopped playing.
The game was promptly stopped by referee François Letexier after the Real Madrid attacker ran to him. FIFA’s anti-racism protocol is activated when the referee crosses his arms in front of his face. For almost ten minutes, the game was stopped while officials and players talked about the conditions on the field.
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When play finally started up again, Real Madrid managed to win 1-0. Vinicius was about to take a corner when there was another small delay in stoppage time due to things being thrown from the crowd. In the past, Vinicius has publicly discussed racist abuse and advocated for more robust measures to safeguard athletes.
After the game, Kylian Mbappe reportedly said that Vinicius had been subjected to numerous instances of racial abuse by Prestianni and that the Argentine didn’t deserve to play in the Champions League once more, according to ESPN.
