The Benfica versus Real MadridChampions League fixture on Tuesday, February 17, 2026 saw some significant drama. Real Madrid player, Vinicius Junior who also scored the only goal of the match, accused an opponent player of racism.
Following the complaint, the match referee, François Letexier initiated the racism protocol and the game was halted for a few minutes.
During Tuesday's Champions League play-off game between Benfica and Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior accused Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him while the game was on.
The match, which took place in Benfica's home ground, Estádio da Luz in Lisbon had to be stopped for almost 10 minutes, causing serious disruption in the game. It was resumed in the 60th minute.
It all started when Vinicius scored the only and winning goal of the match in the 50th minute and went on to celebrate the match by dancing near the corner flag. Benfica players and fans in the stadium were significantly angry at the celebration and let their frustration know.
The French referee noted the anger and proceeded to show Vinicius a yellow card and was booked for his celebration. However, soon the Real Madrid player made a complaint with the referee, alleging racism by Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni. The player allegedly covered his mouth with his jersey and called Vini Jr "monkey". The referee stopped the match in the 52nd minute which was suspended for some time.
Taking to his Instagram Stories after the match, the Brazil player posted a photo of his celebration after scoring the winner. In the next slide, he wrote a message where he wrote, "Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to cover their mouths with their shirts to show how they are weak."
He went on add that the incident was not new and that he does not understand the yellow card he received during the match.
Vini Jr's Real Madrid teammates Mbappe and Aurélien Tchouaméni later revealed that they wanted to leave the field once the racism protocol was initiated and Vini went towards the dug out.
While the Benfica players and coach Jose Mourinho tried to allay the situation, Gianluca asserted that he had not used any racial slurs during his interaction with Vinicius. In a statement following the heated match, he said, "I wanna clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Real Madrid player Vinicius Jr — who has regrettably misunderstood what he thought heard from me. I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players."
Benfica coach Jose Mourinho, who was eventually shown a red card in the 86th minute, also shared his reaction. "Unfortunately he was not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way. There is something wrong because it happens in every stadium. The stadium where Vinicius played something happened. Always."
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