Gianni Infantino proposes radical new rule after Gianluca Prestianni incident

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has suggested a new rule should be introduced to deal with racist comments made by players during matches.

During the first leg of Benfica's Champions League clash with Real Madrid at Estadio da Luz, Vinicius Junior’s made allegations of discriminatory abuse against Gianluca Prestianni.

The Benfica winger was was accused of making several racist comments towards the Brazilian after he was seen approaching Vinicius Jr while covering his mouth, although he denies doing so.

Following the incident, UEFA launched an official investigation into the alleged racist comment, with Benfica boss Jose Mourinho saying that Prestianni's career at the club is over if he is found guilty.

Now, FIFA President Infantino has spoken out about the moment, suggesting a new rule that he believes would stop similar incidents happening in the future.

Prestianni is accused of making a racist comment to Vinicius Jr during their Champions League meeting. (Image: PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP via Getty Images)

Players covering their mouths as they speak to teammates or the opposition is far from a new thing, as they look to avoid cameras picking up their conversations.

However, when the topic was discussed during Saturday’s meeting of the International Football Association Board, Infantino suggested that it was becoming a problem as players could hide controversial comments.

To combat this, the FIFA President has suggested that a more interventionist approach is now needed to punish players who cover their mouths to prevent cameras discovering what they are saying.

He said on Sky News: “If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously.

“There must be a presumption that he has said something he shouldn’t have said, otherwise he wouldn’t have had to cover his mouth. I simply do not understand – if you don’t have something to hide, you don’t hide your mouth when you say something. That’s it, as simple as that.

“And these are actions that we can take and we have to take in order to be serious about our fight against racism.”

Should Infantino look to see this rule implemented, it could be agreed in time for the World Cup this summer, with an upcoming FIFA Congress in Vancouver next month potentially a key date for measures being discussed.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino pictured at an event earlier in February (Image: Getty)

Speaking further on the matter, Infantino suggested that potential punishments could be lessened if guilty players are willing to come forward and take responsibilty for their actions.

“Maybe we should also think about not just punishing, but also somehow allowing, changing our culture, allowing players or whoever does something to apologise,” he added.

“You can do things that you don’t want to do in a moment of anger [and] apologise and then the sanction has to be different, to move one step further and maybe we should think about something like that as well.”