Real Madrid’s 1-0 Champions League play-off first leg win at Benfica on Tuesday night was overshadowed by alleged racist abuse suffered by goalscorer Vinicius Junior.
Benfica started the game confident after their dramatic 4-2 win against Madrid in January’s final league-phase game, but the visiting side began to dominate coming up to half time.
The match was still goalless soon after the break when the incident occurred which dominated the night — and which could lead to serious repercussions for those involved.
Vinicius Jr received a pass from team-mate Kylian Mbappe, dribbled away from Benfica right-back Amar Dedic and curled a superb, right-footed shot into the far top corner of the goal.
Vinicius Junior curls home his goal (Octavio Passos – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
He then celebrated by dancing at the corner flag. Many Benfica fans and players were upset by that, including captain Nicolas Otamendi. Players from both sides began to push and shove each other.
Referee Francois Letexier showed a yellow card to Vinicius Jr for his role in what happened, drawing a bemused look from the goalscorer.
The Brazilian is shown a yellow card in the aftermath of his celebration (Valter Gouveia/Sports Press Photo/Getty Images)
Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni was among those who appeared unhappy with Vinicius Jr’s celebration, and the Argentine continued to exchange words with the Brazilian as the players returned to their own halves. At one point, he appeared to raise his shirt to cover his mouth as he spoke.
Vinicius Jr took offence at something he heard and immediately ran towards the referee to tell him. Prestianni has denied saying anything racist. Letexier listened and then crossed his hands to signal that the racist abuse protocol was being implemented.
The Brazilian — who has suffered racist abuse at multiple Spanish stadiums in the past — then left the pitch and made his way to the bench. He appeared not to want to return to the field of play.
Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa came onto the pitch to talk to Letexier. Mbappe was involved in a discussion with a Benfica staff member, who was red carded by the referee. Benfica manager Jose Mourinho had his arm around Vinicius Jr at one point as they engaged in a conversation on the sidelines, with the forward appearing to tell the ex-Madrid coach what he believed had been said to him. Mourinho and Arbeloa also had a heated conversation.
Letexier explained the situation to captains Otamendi and Federico Valverde, while he then spoke to Prestianni and other players. Vinicius Jr continued to sit on the bench, with Arbeloa and Madrid team-mates including Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni and Alvaro Carreras among those who went to speak with him.
Eventually the players — including Vinicius Jr — all returned to the pitch and play restarted after almost 10 minutes.
Through the remainder of the game, Benfica fans whistled and jeered the Madrid players, especially Vinicius Jr.
Another flashpoint came during added time, when Vinicius Jr committed a foul on the edge of the Benfica area. The home team called for the 25-year-old to be shown a second yellow card as punishment. Mourinho’s protests led Letexier to show him two yellow cards in a matter of seconds, and the Portuguese coach was sent to the stands.
Otamendi also appeared to taunt Vinicius Jr at one point, lifting his shirt to show a tattoo of the World Cup trophy the 38-year-old centre-back won with Argentina in 2022. Objects including plastic bottles were thrown from the stands in the Brazilian’s direction when he went to take a corner late on.
On the final whistle, Vinicius Jr shook hands with some opposition players, including goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin. The match-winner then went to celebrate with the 1,500 or so travelling Madrid supporters in one corner of the Estadio da Luz.
The Athletic has learnt there were also tense scenes in the tunnel following the game involving Benfica staff and a Real Madrid employee. This did not escalate into violence, however, with Benfica publishing a statement saying it was “completely false” that their president Rui Costa had been involved in a confrontation. The Portuguese club have yet to comment on Vinicius Jr’s allegations but Prestianni denied the allegations in an Instagram post later in the evening. “I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard,” a statement on his account read. “I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players”.
After the game, players and coaches from both sides spoke to the media, and it soon became clear there were two very different versions of what had happened.
France striker Mbappe — who has spoken of suffering racist abuse earlier in his career — appeared in the stadium’s mixed zone to lay out his version of events.
“Vinicius scored a great goal, he went to dance, the fans whistled him, which can happen,” Mbappe told reporters. “Then there is a moment of tension with the Benfica players, which should not happen, but can happen too, everyone wants to defend their club.
“Then the No 25 of Benfica — I don’t want to say his name, he does not deserve it — began to speak badly, which can happen too in football. But then he put his shirt over his face to say that Vinicius is a monkey, five times. I heard it, there are Benfica players who heard it too. From that point, all that you saw happened.”
Mbappe also said he would have left the pitch after the incident and not continued, had that been what Vinicius Jr wanted.
“We thought about leaving the pitch,” the 27-year-old said. “I said to Vini, whatever you want to do, we’ll do it, as a team. I said before we’d never leave Vini alone, as a team we have to support our player. It was the team’s decision. We have focused on what we had to do, we won the game. But today the game is not the most important thing. What happened is much more important than football.”
Kylian Mbappe said he and his team-mates considered leaving the pitch over the alleged racist abuse (Zed Jameson/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Madrid midfielder Tchouameni also said Vinicius Jr had told him a racist slur was used. Right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold told TNT Sports that what happened was a “disgrace” which had “ruined our night as a team”.
“I can’t comment too much on it, because it’s an ongoing investigation at this point,” the England international said. “But I think what happened tonight is a disgrace to football, it completely overshadowed our performance and came after a great goal. Vinicius has been subjected to this a few times throughout his career. It ruined our night as a team, and it was a disgrace to football.
“There’s no place for it in football or in society. It’s disgusting. We come out here to do a job. We love what we do. But when something like that happens, it takes the fun out of the job, it ruins it for all of us. We’re proud of the way we handled it in a hostile environment. We stood together.”
Arbeloa, meanwhile, told Movistar: “Vinicius is good, calm, obviously this is something that nobody likes. But it is the Benfica player who should be asked what he said. This is something which should be eradicated from the world of football. If the players themselves don’t fix this, it’s very difficult. We need to fight against racism — it’s the most important thing in football now. We support Vini, of course.”
Mourinho was in a far more combative mood when he spoke to Spanish TV channel Movistar and UK broadcaster Amazon Prime after the game. He was asked by the former whether Prestianni had anything to apologise for.
“Why should Prestianni say sorry?,” the 63-year-old said. “Look, I’ve spoken with the two players. Vini tells me one thing, Prestianni tells me something else. I don’t want to be ‘red’ and say that I only believe Prestianni 100 per cent, but I don’t want to be ‘white’ and say that what Vinicius told me is the truth. I can’t, I don’t know.”
Mourinho — who coached Madrid from 2010 to 2013 — also appeared to suggest that Vinicius Jr was culpable for how things had played out after he had scored his goal, referencing the previous times he suffered racist abuse at multiple stadiums across Spain.
“The only thing I know is that, until the goal, it was a great game, Benfica started very well, and Madrid were very strong,” he said, in comments very similar to those he also made to Prime. “Vinicius scored a goal that only Vini or Mbappe can score. Then he has to go to the arms of his team-mates, and not confront 60,000 people in this stadium. In how many stadiums has this happened? How many? He’s a player from another world, I love him, but when you score a goal like that, jump into the arms of your team-mates. From there, the game was over.”
Jose Mourinho was shown two yellow cards in quick succession late on (Zed Jameson/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Former Madrid, Milan and Netherlands midfielder Clarence Seedorf — working as a pundit on Prime’s coverage of the game — was fiercely critical of that choice of words from Mourinho.
“I’ve huge respect for Jose as a coach, as a person,” Seedorf said. “(But) I think he made a big mistake today to justify racist abuse. I’m not saying that was the case today, but (Mourinho) mentioned that these things happen to Vinicius everywhere he goes. He’s actually saying that it’s OK when Vinicius provokes you to abuse him racially.
“That is very wrong. I think Mourinho is right by saying he doesn’t know who is telling the truth so he has stayed independent — there is going to be an investigation on that. But I definitely believe that we should never ever, in any circumstance, justify racial abuse.”
Soon after the game, the Brazilian football federation (CBF) showed their support for Vinicius Jr.
“CBF stands in solidarity with Vinicius Junior, victim of yet another act of racism this Tuesday, after scoring for Real Madrid against Benfica in Lisbon,” it said on X. “Racism is a crime. It is unacceptable. It cannot exist in football or anywhere else. Vini, you are not alone. Your attitude in activating the protocol is an example of courage and dignity. We are proud of you. We will remain firm in the fight against all forms of discrimination. We are by your side. Always.”
Mbappe also went on social media to show his backing.
BAILA @vinijr and please never stop.
They will never tell us what we have to do or not. ✊🏽— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) February 17, 2026
And Vinicius Jr himself posted the image of his goal celebration on Instagram with the caption “Bernabeu, we’ll see you there”.
That was a reference to next Wednesday’s second leg at the Bernabeu in Madrid. That game was already eagerly awaited, as it will be the first time Mourinho returns to a club where he remains a divisive figure, over a decade since his extremely turbulent spell as coach.
Mourinho will now be unable to sit on the Bernabeu bench again given his suspension. The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur coach was asked on Movistar about his sending off, after he had asked the officials for a second yellow card for Vinicius Jr.
“No, I was sent off for saying something very obvious,” he said. “And the referee had just one thought — that Tchouameni, (Dean) Huijsen and Carreras could not see a yellow (all Madrid players who would have been suspended for the second leg had they been booked). He knew perfectly well who he was allowed to show a yellow card to, and who not. We know how this works. Madrid deserved their victory.”
Whether Prestianni plays in Wednesday’s game in Madrid remains to be seen. Mbappe called on the Champions League organiser to take strong disciplinary action.
“We want things to change,” Mbappe said in the Estadio da Luz mixed zone. “We know our voices have a lot of weight. This is the Champions League, a competition which as a kid I watched with my brother and my parents. We cannot accept that a player in the best competition in Europe behaves like this. He does not deserve to play anymore in the Champions League, in my opinion. But we’ll see what happens, I don’t make these decisions. We will let UEFA act.
“They have tried to do things, and now there is a serious case. And I hope they do the right thing.”
The Athletic has contacted UEFA, Benfica and Real Madrid for comment.
Additional reporting: Guillermo Rai
