Champions League Incident Sparks Controversy

During the Champions League match between Benfica and Real Madrid at Estádio da Luz, Vinicius Jr accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racial abuse after scoring to give Real Madrid the lead. The game paused for 10 minutes as players from both teams left the pitch.

Mourinho’s Post-Match Remarks

Benfica manager Jose Mourinho addressed the situation afterward, suggesting Vinicius Jr provoked the reaction with his goal celebration. He stated: “Yeah, I believe so. I want to be independent, I don’t want to say I believe Prestianni and don’t believe Vini because they said two completely different things. I want to be independent, and I don’t comment about it.”

Mourinho added: “I told him, ‘When you score a goal like that, you just celebrate and walk back.’ When he was arguing about racism, I told him, ‘The biggest person in the history of this club [Benfica] was black. This club, the last thing it is, is racist. If in his mind it was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.”

His comments drew criticism from figures including Wayne Rooney, Clarence Seedorf, and Theo Walcott.

Rosenior’s Strong Stance in Press Conference

Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior faced questions about the incident during his pre-match press conference ahead of the Premier League clash with Burnley. He delivered an emotional response, defending Vinicius Jr and emphasizing that racism remains unacceptable in football and society.

Rosenior said: “It’s upsetting. There’s context that needs to be had in terms of this situation. Always there has to be context to it.”

He continued: “What I will say, you can see any form of racism in society, let alone football, is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable. I cannot speak about an incident where an investigation is ongoing. I won’t speak about that incident.”

Drawing from personal experience, he noted: “What I would say is when you see a player upset, how Vinicius Junior was upset, normally they’re upset for a reason. I’ve been racially abused myself. I know people have been racially abused.”

Rosenior stressed: “What people have to understand is when you are judged for something that you should be proud of, it is the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine. There are historical things to racism. I need to, as manager of this unbelievable football club, make my statement on it.”

He concluded firmly: “If any player or any coach or any manager has ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn’t be in the game. It’s as simple as that for me. What I will not do categorically is talk about one incident when there’s an ongoing investigation.”

Response to Mourinho’s Specific Comments

When pressed on Mourinho’s suggestion that Vinicius provoked the situation, Rosenior avoided direct criticism. He reiterated: “Again, it’s context. What I would say is regardless how a player celebrates, race should never come into it.”

He added: “That is an ongoing investigation. What I’m not going to do, I don’t know the context of the situation. I don’t know the context in which Jose said what he said, and I won’t make a judgement on it.”

Rosenior maintained: “It’s the same thing. I won’t make a judgement until you get the facts. It’s difficult for me to make a judgement. What I will say is if any player or any coach is ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn’t be in the game. It’s as simple as that.”

Chelsea sit fifth in the Premier League table and aim for a full-points victory against relegation-battling Burnley on Saturday afternoon.