UEFA set precedent on racial abuse punishment amid Gianluca Prestianni incident
UEFA have set precedent on punishment for racial abuse amid the governing body issuing a statement involving accusations levelled at Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni from Real Madrid.
In Tuesday's Champions League play-off at the Estadio da Luz, Vinicius Jr scored the only goal of the game in the 50th minute when he conjured up a fine individual strike.
The Brazilian was booked for excessive celebration but just as the game was set to restart with a Benfica kick-off, Vinicius ran over to the referee to complain about an alleged racist remark from Prestianni, who was seen covering his mouth with his top.
The game was then delayed for a period of 10 minutes as referee Francois Letexier activated anti-racism protocol. Jose Mourinho was seen conversing with Vinicius and later revealed in a post-match interview that he told Vinicius "when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back".
Advert
He also added that he "told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black".
Kylian Mbappe alleged that he heard Prestianni use the word "m****y" and called him UEFA to ban the 20-year-old.
The Argentine, who has had a lock screen containing an image of him and Vinicius, categorically denied he used any type of racist language in a statement.
He also disabled comments on his Instagram page as a result of the incident. Aurelien Tchouameni, meanwhile alleged that Prestianni confessed to using the homophobic slur "f****ts".
Argentine outlet Ole claimed that Prestianni had in fact used the word "hermano" - which translates to brother.
In a first comment, UEFA said that "official reports from the matches last night are currently being reviewed" and added that any "disciplinary sanctions" being imposed on the UEFA disciplinary website.
In a second statement, UEFA confirmed that an ethics and disciplinary inspector had been appointed and would lead an investigation into "allegations of discriminatory behaviour".
Though there have been a multitude of issues involving racist abuse from supporters, there have been not been many racist incidents involving players in recent times.
The most high-profile situation saw Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela found guilty of racially abusing Glen Kamara when he was at Rangers.
In line with the baseline punishment as per article 14 of UEFA’s disciplinary regulations (racism and discriminatory conduct), Kudela was suspended for 10-games in the Europa League after the charge.
He was also banned for a further three games for a separate incident in the tunnel. Denying the claims, the Czech Republic international had expressed an intention to appeal but reversed his decision to do so and issued a statement.
"I realise that it was a mistake to go to Glen Kamara at all and tell him anything," Kudela said in a statement from law firm Urban & Hedjuk
"There were emotions in the match and unfortunately I can't take it back now. I'm so sorry."
His ban ruled him out of Euro 2020 but Kudela avoided criminal charges following the incident at Ibrox.
If charges and banned, a player can call upon UEFA’s Appeals Body and then the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Topics: UEFA
Josh Lawless