Gianluca Prestianni issues statement after being accused of racially abusing Vini Jr

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni issued a statement on social media after being accused of racially abusing Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr.

The Champions League knockout play-off tie between Real Madrid and Benfica was halted for around 10 minutes in the second half after Vinicius reported alleged racist abuse to referee Francois Letexier.

Letexier proceeded to make the crossed arms gesture to signal racist abuse following a conversation with the Brazilian, who left the field of play and sat in the Estadio da Luz dugout, refusing to play.

Vinicius ran over to the official following an interaction with Gianluca Prestianni.

After the full-time whistle, Vinicius released a statement condemning the incident. "Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are," he wrote on Instagram.

"But they have the protection of others who, theoretically, have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or in my team's life."

Prestianni has been accused of racially abusing Vini Jr. Image credit: Getty

The 25-year-old added: "I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don't understand why. On the other hand, it was just a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose."

A number of Vinicius' teammates have reacted to the incident, including Kylian Mbappe, who said Prestianni should be banned from the Champions League.

"We cannot accept that there is a player in Europe's top football competition who behaves like this. This guy (Prestianni) doesn't deserve to play in the Champions League anymore," Mbappe told reporters.

"We have to set an example for all the children watching us at home. What happened today is the kind of thing we cannot accept because the world is watching us."

Asked whether Prestianni had apologised, Mbappe replied: "Of course not".

Trent Alexander-Arnold also shared his feelings on the incident, saying: "I think what has happened tonight is a disgrace to football and overshadowed the performance, as well as an amazing goal."

He added: "Vini has been subject to this a few times throughout his career. To ruin a night like this for our team is a disgrace. There is no place for it in football or society. It is disgusting."

Vinicius Jr reported the incident to referee Francois Letexier. Image credit: Getty

Gianluca Prestianni releases statement after being accused of racially abusing Vinicius Jr.

Taking to Instagram in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Prestianni denied making a racist slur.

"I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard," Prestianni wrote.

"I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players."

Jose Mourinho accuses Vinicius Jr of inciting incident that led to alleged racist abuse

Speaking in his post-match interview, Benfica boss Jose Mourinho was asked if he felt Vinicius incited the crowd.

"Yes. I believe so," he said. "It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately [he was] not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way."

He continued: "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."

Jose Mourinho spoke about the incident in his post-match interview. Image credit: Getty

Mourinho has received backlash following the interview, with Amazon Prime pundits Wayne Rooney, Clarence Seedorf and Theo Walcott condemning the comments.

Rooney said: “It’s very unfair what he’s saying about Vinicius," and Walcott added: "I love everything Jose Mourinho has done in football but I think he has made a poor decision in that sense."

Seedorf went on to claim that Mourinho made a "huge mistake by justifying racism", adding: “We should never ever justify racist abuse. Mourinho would agree with me but he expressed himself unfortunately.”