MADRID — Vinicius Junior put Real Madrid ahead 1-0 in the second half of their February 2026 Champions League match against Benfica and was booked for an excessive celebration after dancing around the corner flag. Following an interaction with Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni, Vinicius ran to the referee and gestured toward the opponent, prompting the official to signal a racist abuse report using the crossed arms gesture.

The referee activated UEFA's anti-racism protocol, halting play for nearly 10 minutes during which Vinicius and some teammates briefly left the field. A Real Madrid statement said Vinicius told the referee he had been racially abused by Prestianni, who strongly denied the accusation. UEFA later suspended Prestianni for the second leg while it investigated and ultimately handed him a six-match ban—not for racist abuse due to insufficient evidence, but for a homophobic insult he admitted to directing at Vinicius.

Jose Mourinho, Benfica’s manager, criticized Vinicius’s celebration and addressed the racism allegations in post-match comments. "You score a goal from another world, why celebrate like that? The same thing always happens in so many stadiums. In how many states has this happened? In how many stadiums? How many? How many? He's an out of this world player, I love him. Vinicius tells me one thing and Prestianni tells me another. I want to be balanced," Mourinho said. He added, "Yes. I believe so. It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately [he was] not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way."

Mourinho also stated, "When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black. This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don't believe in one or another. I want to be an independent."

Former Real Madrid midfielder Clarence Seedorf responded to Mourinho’s remarks, saying, "I think he [Mourinho] is still emotional. He's saying it's OK, when Vinicius provokes you, to be racist—and I think that is very wrong. We should never, ever justify racial abuse. Vinicius has had enough of that unjustified behaviour from people. I know Mourinho by heart would agree with me but he expressed himself a bit unfortunately."

Vinicius posted on Instagram, "Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to hide behind others to show how weak they are. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or my team's life." He has previously described Real Madrid as "the club of my dreams" and expressed hope to remain there "for many years."