UEFA suspend Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni amid Vinicius Junior racism investigation

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.

UEFA provisionally suspend Prestianni ahead of Real Madrid game

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.

UEFA statement on Prestianni suspension

The UEFA announcement on the matter is as follows, and was initially published by Marca.

Following the appointment of a UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector (EDI) to investigate allegations of discriminatory behavior during the 2025/2026 UEFA Champions League qualifying match between SL Benfica and Real Madrid CF on 17 February 2026, and at the request of the EDI with a provisional report, the UEFA Control Body, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee (CEDB) has today decided to provisionally suspend Mr. Gianluca Prestianni from the next UEFA club competition match for which he would otherwise be eligible, for the alleged breach of Article 14 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations (DR) in relation to discriminatory behavior. This is without prejudice to any decision that the UEFA disciplinary bodies may subsequently take following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and its respective submission to the UEFA disciplinary bodies.

Uncomfortable situation avoided

The decision to do so does not follow the usual protocol, but if it is based on a provisional report, perhaps hints at the early conclusions. It also avoids an awkward situation for UEFA – had Prestianni played at the Bernabeu and made a key contribution to Benfica progressing, then rightly or wrongly it may well have been perceived as impunity from the governing body.