Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni will not feel the wrath of the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night in the return leg of their Champions League clash with Real Madrid, after UEFA announced his suspension. Prestianni has been acccused of racially abusing Vinicius Junior during the first leg last week.
Following the Brazilian’s winner in Lisbon, Prestianni allegedly called Vinicius a monkey, according to the Real Madrid star and teammate Kylian Mbappe. However Prestianni has claimed that this was not the case, and that he instead called Vinicius a homophobic slur instead.
In an unprecedented move, UEFA have decided to provisionally suspend Prestianni. Normally punishments are only doled out at the conclusion of investigations, but on this occasion they have acted to ensure that Prestianni will not feature at the Bernabeu. They say that the decision has been taken at the request of the Ethics and Discipline Inspector, who is leading the investigation, Prestianni has been suspended.
