{"id":2740,"date":"2026-02-20T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=2740"},"modified":"2026-02-20T02:18:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T02:18:37","slug":"racists-are-cowards-says-vinicius-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=2740","title":{"rendered":"Racists are cowards, says Vinicius Jr"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr has stated that \u201cracists are, above all, cowards\u201d after alleging he was subjected to racial abuse during a Champions League match between Benfica and Real Madrid on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group-stage tie in the UEFA Champions League was halted for approximately 10 minutes after Vinicius reported the alleged incident to French referee Francois Letexier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Olamide, Wizkid - Kai! (Official Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"735\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7tChMHOrQJM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Brazil international and several of his team-mates briefly left the field during the stoppage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported by BBC Sport on Wednesday, European football\u2019s governing body, UEFA, has opened an investigation into the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vinicius, who has previously been the target of racist abuse during his career in Spain, addressed the incident in a post on social media shortly after the match. \u201cRacists are, above all, cowards,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni, who could face a minimum 10-match ban from European competition if found guilty, has denied directing any racist abuse at Vinicius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement posted on Wednesday, Benfica said they \u201cfully support\u201d Prestianni and described the situation as a \u201cdefamation campaign\u201d against the player. The club also released video footage of the alleged incident, arguing that, given the distance involved, Real Madrid players \u201ccould not have heard what they claim to have heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c[Prestianni\u2019s] conduct in the service of the club has always been guided by respect for opponents, institutions, and the principles that define Benfica\u2019s identity,\u201d the club said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fabrizio Romano on his X handle on Wednesday said TNT Sports, quoted Kylian Mbappe as saying, \u201cI believe Gianluca Prestianni shouldn\u2019t come to the Bernab\u00e9u, the best stadium in the world. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t deserve it; he shouldn\u2019t play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Benfica manager Jose Mourinho said in his post-match interview that he had been told different things by Vinicius and Prestianni regarding the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mourinho, who managed Real for 178 games between 2010 and 2013, said Vinicius had been disrespectful in his goal celebration and pointed to their legendary striker Eusebio as proof that Benfica is not a racist club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe club reaffirms, clearly and unequivocally, its historical and unwavering commitment to defending the values of equality, respect, and inclusion, which are in line with the core values of its foundation and have Eusebio as their greatest symbol,\u201d Benfica said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mourinho\u2019s and Benfica\u2019s comments have been criticised by several people, including anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari said both the club and manager had \u201cfailed\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a natural inclination to want to believe your player, but the reality is they didn\u2019t hear it,\u201d Bhandari told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are only two people who are in that conversation, and two people who could have heard what was said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think the better reaction from a club with Benfica\u2019s fantastic stature would be to say we\u2019re going to cooperate with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is quite typical after these kinds of discriminatory events. The discrimination is one thing, the gaslighting is another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he was \u201cshocked and saddened\u201d by the incident and commended Letexier for activating the anti-racism protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere is absolutely no room for racism in our sport and in society \u2013 we need all the relevant stakeholders to take action and hold those responsible to account,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI will always continue to reiterate: No to racism, no to any form of discrimination!\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/punchng.com\/racists-are-cowards-says-vinicius-jr\/\">(Punch)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr has stated that \u201cracists are, above all, cowards\u201d after alleging he was subjected to racial abuse during a Champions League match between Benfica and Real Madrid on Tuesday. The group-stage tie in the UEFA Champions League was halted for approximately 10 minutes after Vinicius reported the alleged incident to French [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1662,3040,3042,1196,3043,3041,1376,416,3039],"class_list":["post-2740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-benfica","tag-francois-letexier","tag-gianluca-prestianni","tag-jose-mourinho","tag-kylian-mbappe-2","tag-racism","tag-real-madrid","tag-uefa-champions-league","tag-vinicius-jr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Racists are cowards, says Vinicius Jr - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr has stated that \u201cracists are, above all, cowards\u201d after alleging he was subjected to racial abuse\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=2740\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Racists are cowards, says Vinicius Jr - 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