Real Madrid sends UEFA all evidence of incidents in Benfica match

Real Madrid football club announced that it has provided all available evidence to European football's governing body about alleged racist abuse directed at player Vinicius Junior during a Champions League match against Benfica.

"The club has cooperated with the investigation launched by UEFA following the unacceptable episodes of racism experienced during that match. Real Madrid will continue to work, in collaboration with all institutions, to eradicate racism, violence and hatred in sport and society," Real said in a statement.

UEFA yesterday appointed a special investigator to gather evidence about what happened in Lisbon in Real Madrid's 1-0 victory over Benfica, in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs.

Vinicius has accused Benfica player Gianluca Prestiani of calling him a "monkey" after the Brazilian scored the only goal of the match.

Prestiani was among the Benfica players who were angry with Vinicius for the way he celebrated a goal by dancing at the corner flag, in front of the home team's fans.

Vinicius was shown a yellow card for celebrating a goal, and then complained to referee Francois Letexie that Prestiani had racially abused him, which led to the match being stopped. The Brazilian player sat on the bench and refused to continue the match, and after a 10-minute break, the match at the Stadium of Light resumed.

The Real Madrid player wrote on social media after the match that "racists are, above all, cowards."

"They have to put their jersey over their mouths to show how weak they are. But they have the protection of others who, theoretically, have the obligation to punish them," Vinicius wrote.

Benfica player Prestijani denied yesterday that he insulted Vinicius.

"I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults at Vinicius Junior, who unfortunately misunderstood what he thought he heard. I have never been racist towards anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players," the Argentine wrote on social media.

Benfica said Prestiani was a victim and welcomed the investigation launched by Uefa, stating that it "fully supports and believes in the version presented by Prestiani".

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said yesterday he was "shocked to see an incident of alleged racism" and praised the referee for activating anti-racism protocol during the match.