Jose Mourinho has threatened to end Gianluca Prestianni’s career at Benfica if the Argentine forward is found guilty of racially abusing Vinicius Junior.
Prestianni is being investigated by UEFA following allegations that he racially abused Vinícius during the first leg of the Champions League play-off between Benfica and Real Madrid on February 17.
Shortly after scoring the opening goal in Lisbon, Vinicius approached referee Francois Letexier, who proceeded to make the crossed arms gesture to signal racist abuse.
After the full-time whistle, Vinicius accused Prestianni of racial abuse. "Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are," he wrote on Instagram.
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The Brazilian complained to the referee that Prestianni had used the word “mono”, or monkey, towards him.
Prestianni, who was seen speaking to the Brazilian forward with his shirt over his mouth, denied making a racist slur and has since claimed he said “maricon”, a homophobic slur, according to The Times.
Amid the investigation, Benfica manager Jose Mourinho has finally broken his silence on the incident.
Speaking ahead of the club's league clash against Gil Vicente on Monday, he said he will not look at Prestianni "in the same way" if he is found guilty of racially abusing Vinicius Jr.
Mourinho also suggested his career at Benfica would be over.
"If he is indeed guilty, I will no longer look at him the same way, and it will be over with me. I absolutely condemn all forms of discrimination and idiocy," he said.
"If my player has not respected the principles, which are mine and those of Benfica, his career will end with me."
If he is found guilty, Prestianni could serve a lengthy ban.
As per Article 14 of UEFA's anti-discrimination policies, any player who 'insults human dignity on grounds of sexual orientation, gender, race or religion' can be suspended for 10 matches.
Benfica respond to reports about Gianluca Prestianni in Portuguese press
On Thursday, sections of the Portuguese media claimed that Prestianni had admitted to his teammates that he did use a racial slur towards Vinicius.
However, that allegation was denied by Benfica, who released a club statement on the matter.
The statement read: "Sport Lisboa e Benfica categorically denies that the player Prestianni has communicated to the squad or the club's structure that he has uttered a racist insult to the player Vinicius Jr, from Real Madrid.
"As has already been made public, the player apologised to his teammates for the incident that occurred during the match against Real Madrid, regretting the dimension and consequences of it and assuring everyone, as he has done since the first hour, that he is not racist."
Topics: Jose Mourinho, Benfica, Real Madrid, Vinicius Jr, Brazil
Jack Kenmare