The Portuguese club “Benfica” announced the temporary suspension of the membership of five of its fans, on suspicion of their involvement in racist behavior during the match that brought the team together with “Real Madrid” of Spain in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League, which was held at the “Al Noor” Stadium on the 17th of this month.
The club issued an official statement clarifying that these disciplinary measures came after an internal investigation that was opened after the match, due to inappropriate behavior of a racist nature that appeared in the stands, stressing its full commitment to the principles of combating discrimination and racism. The statement added that these five fans may face the penalty of being completely banned from attending the team’s matches.
During the match, which ended with Real Madrid winning 1-0, Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior accused Benfica’s Argentine player, Gianluca Pristiani, of racially insulting him, causing the match to stop for approximately ten minutes. As a result, UEFA decided to temporarily suspend Pristiani from the second leg, which ended with a 2-1 victory for Real Madrid.
However, Benfica denied the accusations against its player, stressing that he had not committed any racist abuse. On the other hand, video clips spread on social media, confirmed by Spanish media, showing some fans making racist gestures towards Vinicius.
