Henry nails it after Vinicius Jr racism storm as Mourinho called out | Football | Sport

Thierry Henry has defended Vinicius Junior following allegations the Real Madrid forward suffered racial abuse from Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni. Vinicius netted the match’s only goal in Tuesday evening’s Champions League play-off first leg in Portugal.

Following his strike into the top corner, Vinicius celebrated with his team-mates by the corner flag and received a yellow card for excessively celebrating. Moments before Benfica resumed play, Vinicius reported the alleged abuse to referee Francois Letexier.

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The Brazilian winger accused Prestianni, who was spotted covering his mouth with his shirt, of racism before departing the pitch. The fixture was halted for 10 minutes before resuming, with Madrid securing a 1-0 victory.

Prestianni has refuted Vinicius’ allegation on social media and Benfica boss Jose Mourinho felt that the Madrid forward had incited the crowd prior to the incident.

“Yes I believe so,” he said when asked about Vini Jr’s celebration had stirred up the crowd. “It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal in a good game… these talents are able to do these beautiful things but unfortunately he [Vinicius] was not just happy to score that astonishing goal and then the game was over. When you score a goal like that you celebrate in a respectful way.”

Post-mach, Thierry Henry and Micah Richards slammed the problem with racism in the sport during CBS Sports Golazo’s show. “I can relate to what Vinicius is going through,” Henry said as he delivered an emotional speech. 

“That happened to me so many times on the pitch. I talked about it so many times after games. I’ve also been accused of looking for excuses after games when that happened to me. At times, you feel lonely, because it’s going to be your word against his word.

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“We don’t know what Prestianni has said, because he was very courageous by putting his shirt over his mouth to make sure that we weren’t going to see what he said, so clearly, already, you look suspicious. Because you didn’t want people to see or read what you said.

“Then, the reaction of Vinicius is telling me that something not right happened. We still don’t know what was said. Vinicus can tell us his side, and Prestianni, I’m sure, will not tell us what he actually said, because I saw at one point Kylian Mbappe confront him, and he said, ‘I didn’t say anything.’

“Well, he must have said something at the very least. You feel like you don’t know what to do anymore. We’re in 2026 and still after a game like that, where we’re supposed to talk about his brilliant goal, we shouldn’t be having to deal with the referee telling you to not go to the corner flag, because that will incite the crowd.”

“It’s a corner, can he not take a corner? He can’t go there to take a corner just because people are thinking whatever they’re thinking. Suddenly he becomes a victim. I can relate. I can assure you, when that happens, you don’t know what to do anymore.

“He tried to walk out in Spain one time, and another time, he tried to kick someone back because he’d had enough. Now he went to see the referee to tell him what happened. I’ve been there. The referee also told me he couldn’t do anything about it.”

He added: “Let’s see how big of a man Prestianni is,” he added. “Tell us what you said. You must have said something, because you can’t go to Mbappe and say, ‘I didn’t say anything’. What do you mean, you covered your nose for what, you have a cold?”.

Richards was equally strong regarding the alleged abuse Vinicius endured on Tuesday, branding Prestianni a “coward”.