Thierry Henry delivers emotional speech on incident between Vini Jr and Gianluca Prestianni

An emotional Thierry Henry did not hold back as he reflected on the incident between Vinicius Jr and Gianluca Prestianni during a powerful and candid segment live on CBS Sports.

On Tuesday night, the Champions League knockout play-off tie between Real Madrid and Benfica was halted for around 10 minutes in the second half after Vinicius accused Prestianni of racially abusing him.

Prestianni appeared to have uttered something while covering his mouth with his shirt, and Vinicius reported the incident to referee Francois Letexier, who proceeded to make the crossed arms gesture to signal racist abuse.

Moments later, the Brazilian forward left the field of play and refused to take part in the game as he sat in the Estadio da Luz dugout.

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."

He 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."

The incident was a big talking point after Tuesday night's game in Portugal, with many pundits and players commenting on the scene, including former Arsenal and Barcelona forward Thierry Henry.

Henry gave his candid reaction on CBS Sports, saying that he "relates' to how Vinicius is feeling after being the target of alleged racist abuse.

“I can relate to what Vinicius is going through,” Henry began.

“That happened to me so many times on the pitch. I talked about it so many times after games. I’ve also been accused of looking for excuses after games when that happened to me. At times, you feel lonely, because it’s going to be your word against his word.

“We don’t know what Prestianni has said, because he was very courageous by putting his shirt over his mouth to make sure that we weren’t going to see what he said, so clearly, already, you look suspicious.

“Because you didn’t want people to see or read what you said. Then, the reaction of Vinicius is telling me that something not right happened. We still don’t know what was said. Vinicus can tell us his side, and Prestianni, I’m sure, will not tell us what he actually said, because I saw at one point Kylian Mbappe confront him, and he said, ‘I didn’t say anything’.

“Well, he must have said something at the very least. You feel like you don’t know what to do anymore. We’re in 2026 and still after a game like that, where we’re supposed to talk about his brilliant goal, we shouldn’t be having to deal with the referee telling you to not go to the corner flag, because that will incite the crowd.

“It’s a corner, can he not take a corner? He can’t go there to take a corner just because people are thinking whatever they’re thinking. Suddenly he becomes a victim. I can relate. I can assure you, when that happens, you don’t know what to do anymore.

“He tried to walk out in Spain one time, and another time, he tried to kick someone back because he’d had enough. Now he went to see the referee to tell him what happened. I’ve been there. The referee also told me he couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Let’s see how big of a man Prestianni is,” Henry continued.

“Tell us what you said. You must have said something, because you can’t go to Mbappe and say, ‘I didn’t say anything’. What do you mean, you covered your nose for what, you have a cold?"

"I can relate to what Vinícius Jr. is going through.. At times you feel lonely because it's going to be your word against his word."

Thierry Henry reflects on the incident between Vinícius Jr. and Gianluca Prestianni 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/qa11TICJ9H

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 17, 2026

Henry also said it is "tiring" to still be talking about such incidents in 2026. "People did fight, way before my time, for us to be able to perform and to entertain people," he said.

"And to still be in 2026 dealing with the same thing, it's tiring," Henry added. "Obviously, I can relate, not only I can relate by the color of my skin, I can relate because I've been there. I've been lonely."

UEFA release statement on incident between Vinicius Jr and Gianluca Prestianni

On Wednesday, UEFA released a statement after Vinicius made a complaint following a comment from Prestianni.

"The official reports from the matches played last night are currently being reviewed," the statement read. "Where matters are reported, proceedings are opened and should they lead to disciplinary sanctions being imposed, they are announced on the UEFA disciplinary website.

"We have no further information to provide you or any further comment to make on this matter at this stage."