Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni will miss the second leg of the Champions League playoff match between Real Madrid and Benfica after being provisionally suspended by UEFA over the alleged racial abuse of Vinicius Junior during the first leg of the encounter in Portugal last week.
“The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) today (Monday) decided to provisionally suspend Mr Gianluca Prestianni for the next (1) UEFA club competition match for which he would otherwise be eligible for the prima facie violation of Article 14 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations (DR) related to a discriminatory behaviour,” UEFA said in a statement on Monday.
Prestianni is currently in the news after Vinicius accused him of using racial slurs against him during the match against Benfica after scoring the goal that secured Real Madrid the win. Vinicius’ teammate, Kylian Mbappe, later told journalists that Prestianni had called the Brazil international a monkey five times.
There were concerns about the possibility of the 20-year-old featuring in the return fixture on Wednesday despite the unresolved situation. However, UEFA has decided to suspend him for the match upon request of an interim report from its Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector.
Meanwhile, the body added, “This is without prejudice to any ruling that the UEFA disciplinary bodies may subsequently make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and its respective submission to the UEFA disciplinary bodies.”