Real Madrid’s Champions League clash with Benfica descended into chaos at the start of the second half following a heated verbal exchange involving an irate Vinicius Junior and Gianluca Prestianni.
Vinicius Junior brought tonight’s play-off first leg to life with a piece of individual brilliance to open the scoring five minutes after the restart at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz.
The Brazilian celebrated the wonder strike by dancing directly in front of Benfica’s home fans behind the goal – a reaction which immediately drew the ire of Jose Mourinho’s players.
Referee Francois Letexier showed Vinicius Junior a yellow card for his part in antagonising Benfica’s supporters by the corner flag, many of whom responded by throwing missiles at the 25-year-old forward.
There was a delay of more than nine minutes as both sets of players clashed on the pitch.
However, what at first seemed innocuous soon turned sinister, with Vinicius Junior issuing a complaint to the officials about something Benfica winger Prestianni had allegedly said in the middle of the melee.
Replays of the incident showed Prestianni raising his shirt over his mouth during the fracas, but it was unclear what – if anything – the Argentina international may have muttered to draw such an apoplectic reaction from Vinicius Junior.
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There were whistles in the crowd as Prestianni appeared to profess his innocence before a member of Madrid’s coaching orders was shown a straight red card.
‘What’s gone on is there have been words said between the players,’with former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg said on Amazon Prime’s live commentar.
‘Vinicius Junior is not happy with what’s been said. He’s informed the referee of what’s been said and the referee is now following the protocol of a racial comment that has been made.
‘He will now make sure that this has been reported.’
Clattenburg then appeared to blame Vinicius Junior for goading fans and ‘making it difficult for the referee’, remarks which have been met with some criticism on social media.
Clattenburg added: ‘That’s the difficult thing is that once Vinicius Junior has approached the referee, the referee now has to follow the protocol.
‘He has to follow the rules that UEFA have set out when this happens.
‘The problem in this situation is he’s made it difficult for the referee. All he has to do is, yes celebrate, but then turn back and he’s made it very difficult.’
More to follow.
