Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe said Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni should never play in the Champions League again after the Argentinian was accused of racism towards Vinicius Jr.

Benfica and Real Madrid’s first-leg knockout tie turned ugly after Prestianni covered his mouth with his shirt and allegedly made a racist comment towards Vinicius Jr after the Brazilian had opened the scoring.

The Real Madrid player rushed to inform the referee who initiated UEFA’s racism protocol but it was ultimately a case of Vinicius Jr’s words against Prestianni and play continued after a lengthy delay.

Real Madrid held onto their 1-0 lead ahead of the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu next week but the game was overshadowed by the incident with both sides trying to tell their version of the story.

Prestianni posted on Instagram claiming he did not make a racist insult to Vinicius Jr.

He wrote: “I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard.

“I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players.”

Benfica manager Jose Mourinho meanwhile suggested Vinicius had provoked the abuse with his celebration.

“I told him, when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be an independent,” he told Amazon Prime.

“When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person [Eusebio] in the history of this club was black.

“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.”

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But on the Madrid side, they are adamant Prestianni used the language and Mbappe said Prestianni ‘should never play in the Champions League again.’

“What I saw is very clear: number 25 said five times to Vini that you are a monkey. Everyone can have their opinion, but this kind of behaviour is unacceptable. It’s wonderful to play in the Champions League, but showing this image is terrible for world football.

“I called him racist because I think he is. He tried to hide behind his shirt, but his face doesn’t lie. This type of person is not a professional colleague. A young player cannot have the freedom to say things like this on a football field. It’s a big problem, and we’ll see what happens.”

Vinicius Jr also posted on Instagram, calling Prestianni a “coward.”

“Racists are, above all, cowards,” he said.

“They need to put their shirts over their mouths to demonstrate how weak they are.

“But they have, on their side, the protection of others who, theoretically, have the obligation to punish. Nothing that happened here today was new in my life and my family’s.

“I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t understand why. On the other hand, just a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose.

“I don’t like appearing in situations like this, even more so after a great victory and when the headlines have to be about Real Madrid, but it’s necessary.”

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