Kate Scott opens CBS Sports broadcast with must-see message after Vini Jr incident
Kate Scott delivered a poignant message to open CBS Sports' coverage of the Champions League following the Vinicius Junior incident.
Real Madrid beat Benfica 1-0 in Tuesday's Champions League first-leg play-off tie.
Vinicius Jr. scored the only goal of the game as he produced a moment of magic in the 50th minute.
But the European fixture was marred by the alleged racist incident involving Vinicius Jr., who claims he was racially abused by Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni.
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The Brazilian forward took to social media after the game to issue a statement.
"Racists are, above all, cowards," he said. "They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are. 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. 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. I don't like to appear in situations like this, especially after a big win and when the headlines should be about Real Madrid, but it's necessary."
Wednesday saw the remaining first-leg play-off games take place, including Bodo/Glimt vs. Inter Milan and Club Brugge vs. Atletico Madrid.
Before the action, however, CBS Sports host Scott issued a powerful message in the wake of the alleged racist abuse aimed at Vinicius Jr.
"Well, I guess today is a new day in football, but with the same old racist problems," she began.
"And whilst we do want to focus on the games ahead today because the game is what we love, yesterday does still linger. And whether or not you like Vini Junior, that shouldn't shape your opinion on this incident and which team you support, it shouldn't affect which side of the story that you fall on.
"This isn't Real Madrid versus Benfica. It is right versus wrong. Vini Junior and Kylian Mbappe said that there was repeated racial abuse. Gianluca Prestiani said they misheard.
"But he covered his mouth to hide what he said from the cameras, and hopefully, we can all agree that if what you are saying on a football pitch is shameful enough to have to hide it from the public, then you're wrong."
Scott added: "In any case, racial abuse is not new in this game, that's for sure. In decades gone by, Cyrille Regis, Howard Gayle, Viv Anderson and John Barnes, to name just a few who played in this country, dealt with continued and horrific racial abuse to pave a path for players of Vini's generation to play and celebrate without shackles.
"Except in 2026, that still doesn't always apply. They are still expected as Vini Junior was last night to rise above it, to answer by performance, to shut up and play.
"Jose Mourinho is an iconic figure in world football. Yesterday, he switched the focus from what had actually been said to whether there was provocation for it. He essentially told us that Vini Junior was asking for it. That is a damaging narrative from a man who is considered a leading figure in the global game.
"Football governance struggles globally with racial diversity at its top executive levels as do UEFA, but we do hope that the lack of black voices in the room will not mean that black players continue to go unprotected. Investigation and due process will have to occur.
"But whatever the results of that in this case, we hope that football becomes a better platform where hatred is met with more than nominal fines and partial stadium closures, where diversity is truly celebrated, not just tolerated or abused with shirts over mouths.
"The racial diversity on a football pitch in the Champions League is the representation of the global love for this game and the global belonging in this game. This is the very spirit of football. And if you don't agree, then respectfully, you are the one who doesn't belong."
Jamie Carragher recalls Luis Suarez/Patrice Evra incident when reflecting on Vinicius Jr
Thierry Henry, Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher were on hand to share their thoughts on the alleged racism during Real's win over Benfica.
In doing so, the Liverpool legend recalled his own experience, having been involved in the Luis Suarez/Patrice Evra case.
"I think most people in football now are looking at the situation, are looking at Benfica and thinking, 'oh, you've got this horribly wrong'," he said.
"I've been there as a player inside a football club, and we had a situation like this now, where I think the whole of football was looking at us and thinking, we've got it totally wrong at Liverpool. An incident between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, probably 10, 15 years ago.
"It took a long time, I think, for us inside our club to accept we got this badly wrong. And Thierry just mentioned there'll be an investigation. There was an investigation then at that time, and obviously it came out about what Luis had said. And I was on a TV show with Patrice Evra, as I said, a good few years later, and apologised that we as a football club had got this totally wrong. And I think the club followed suit as well a few weeks later.
"I think most of us you know feel where you know what happened last night was really unjust to obviously Vini Junior and if there is an investigation I just hope in time that Benfica Jose Mourinho people around that club can apologise if we feel the accusation is right, but also realise some of the things they got involved in themselves, putting a tweet out hours after, looking at who spoke to what player, just trying to really question the validity of the Vini Junior and the Real Madrid players as being poor.
"And hopefully, as I said, if it comes out the way we all think, what happened is, as I said, they apologise."
Topics: Vinicius Jr, Jamie Carragher, Kate Abdo, Football
Nasir Jabbar