UEFA INVESTIGATION: EMERGENCY PROBE LAUNCHED INTO BENFICA VS REAL MADRID VINíCIUS JR RACISM ALLEGATIONS
Is UEFA doing enough? Analyse the Vinícius racism storm, Mourinho’s comments, and Trent Alexander-Arnold's "disgrace" reaction.
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A Champions League match ground to a halt for nearly ten minutes after Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior accused a Benfica player of racist abuse.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Madrid’s defender, didn’t hold back;At theback; he called it “a disgrace to football.” Benfica manager Jose Mourinho saw things differently and blamed Vinícius for provoking the Benfica players and fans with his goal celebration in Madrid’s 1-0 win.
Here’s what happened: Vinícius had just curled a beautiful shot into the top corner. Right after, French referee François Letexier stopped the game in the 5signallinge, signaling with his arms that something serious had happened an accusation of racism.
Benfica fans reacted right away. They started throwing bottles and other stuff at the Madrid players after Vinícius celebrated by dancing near the corner flag.
Then Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni walked up to Vinícius, said something, but covered his mouth with his shirt. Vinícius immediately pointed at Prestianni and ran straight to the referee. TV cameras caught Vinícius telling Letexier that Prestianni"monkey".im “monkey.”
After the game, Vinícius posted a photo on Instagram, celebrating next to the Benfica corner flag. His caption was blunt: “Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to cover their mouths with their shirts to show how they are weak. Nothing that happened today is new to me in my life and in my family's life. I was shown a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don't know why.”
As soon as Viníc, hepoke up he’s faced racist abuse in Spain before the referee stopped the match. Vinícius sat in the dugout, and some of his teammates drifted over to the sideline. Mbappé and Aurélien Tchouaméni said later that the team thought about walking off, but in the end, they kept playing. Mbappé checked with Vinícius first to see what he wanted to do.
Alexander-Arnold summed up everyone’s feelings after the match: “What’s happened tonight is a disgrace to football. It’s overshadowed the performance, especially after such an amazing goal. Vini’s been subjected to this a few times throughout his career, and for it to happen tonight and ruin the night for us as a team is a disgrace. There’s no place for it in football or society. It’s disgusting.”
Prestianni, just 20, stood off to the side while Vinícius talked to the referee. Madrid’s Federico Valverde said, “The players who were near said that [Prestianni] said something ugly that shouldn’t be said. If you cover your mouth to say something, it’s because you’re saying something not nice. I’m proud of my teammates who defended Vini, and of Vini.”
Benfica’s side told a different story. Leandro Barreiro saihim,“I asked him and he said it was a normal provocation between players during a match. He said it was nothing racist.”
Both coaches, Mourinho and Madrid’s Álvaro Arbeloa, spoke to Vinícius on the sidelines. Mourinho tried to stay criticisedt criticized Vinícius for celebrating near the Benfica fans. “Unfortunately he was not just happy to score that astonishing goal,” Mourinho said. “When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way. There is something wrong because it happens in every stadium. The stadium where Vinicius played, something happened. Always.”
The referee signalled he didn’t hear anything and pointed out that Prestianni had his shirt over his mouth. Prestianni didn’t get a yellow card and kept playing until he was subbed off in the 81st minute, with Benfica fans applauding him.
When the match restarted, Vinícius was booed loudly by the home crowd every time he touched the ball. Late in the game, a bottle thrown from the crowd hit him near the sideline. The referee asked for a stadium announcement, warning fans to stop throwing things on the field.
Mbappé, who stood up for Vinícius during the confrontation, got jeered too. Cameras caught him apparently telling Prestianni he was a racist, with some choice words.
“We can’t accept that a player who plays in Europe’s top competition behaves like that,” Mbappé said. “He shouldn’t keep playing in the competition. Let’s see what happens now.”
ARSENAL POCKET INSANE £125.18M FOLLOWING CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL QUALIFICATION
Mikel Arteta's side has added £15.97m to their cash reserves, eclipsing the total earned by current champions PSG last year.
Arsenal have added another £15.97 million to their UEFA prize money haul after securing a spot in the Champions League final with a win against Atletico Madrid. They are set to face either Bayern Munich or the current champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in Budapest on May 30, aiming for their first-ever triumph in this prestigious competition.
Beyond that, there’s an additional £5.61 million up for grabs in Hungary later this month. But up to now, Arsenal have amassed an eye-watering £125.18 million in Champions League prize money this season alone. A place in next season’s European Super Cup also carries a potential reward of around £3.45 million. It’s been a remarkable European run under Mikel Arteta, with the team dominating the group stage by winning all eight matches.
From the very beginning, the club benefited from the initial distribution of TV revenue and the rankings pool, which together amounted to £49.6 million. Even before the knockout rounds kicked off, Arsenal had already secured £85.3 million in prize money.
That total doesn’t even cover the bonuses linked to their on-field success, as each of their eight victories in the group stage brought in roughly £15.8 million altogether.
By finishing first out of 36 group-phase clubs, Arsenal earned an extra £8.6 million, and progressing straight to the round of 16 as one of the top eight teams secured them another £11.3 million.
They continued their strong run by eliminating Bayer Leverkusen after a 1-1 draw away and a 2-0 win at the Emirates, which added £10.8 million more to their earnings.
Overcoming Sporting CP in the quarter-finals also brought a £10.8 million bonus. While Arsenal’s motivation isn’t just financial, this level of income certainly aids in meeting profit and sustainability rules and other financial fair play criteria.
It’s also likely to support their summer transfer budget, as sporting director Andrea Berta looks to build on Arteta’s squad.
Last season, Arsenal took home £98.63 million after reaching the semi-finals before falling to PSG.
PSG, who went on to win the title, collected about £124.62 million last year, so Arsenal have now already surpassed that figure.
Meanwhile, UEFA has set aside a record £2.13 billion in prize money for the 2025-26 Champions League season, highlighting the competition’s growing financial stakes.
JAN OBLAK CONFESSES ATLETICO WERE "AFRAID TO PLAY" AGAINST ARSENAL
Following their Champions League exit, skipper Jan Oblak analysed where Atletico went wrong and paid tribute to Griezmann.
Jan Oblak didn’t hold back after Atletico Madrid crashed out of the Champions League against Arsenal. He said straight up that the team just didn’t do enough to earn a spot in the final. Sure, he’s proud of how far the squad has come recently, but the way they went out still stings.
Oblak was pretty open about where things went wrong, especially after the first leg, when Atletico failed to take an advantage back to London. “I'm disappointed, just like all the fans. Honestly, I can’t find the words. We didn’t do enough to be in the final, and it’s just a tough moment. We had our chances to win, but we didn’t take them. All that’s left is to congratulate Arsenal.”
He didn’t stop there, either. Speaking to CBS Golazo, Oblak was even more direct about the team’s mentality, especially in the first half of both matches. He felt Atletico were hesitant, too respectful of Arsenal, and afraid to play. Both times, they fell behind before halftime and then tried to play catch-up, but it was always a little too late. “This has happened several times this season,” Oblak said, “and while we’ve managed to win those games before, not today when it mattered most.”
On the flip side, Oblak did give some credit to the young players and the growth the team’s shown, especially after a couple of big summers that saw a huge part of the squad change. “The last two seasons, we’ve switched out something like 15 players. A lot of young guys with not much experience came in. They did great in the cup, and they’ve held up in the Champions League too. In the league, we weren’t good enough for the biggest matches, but I’m proud of how the younger ones are growing. Still, when the goal is to win a title, and you don’t, you can’t call it a success. All we can do is look forward and hope we’ll be fighting for trophies next season.”
Saying goodbye to Antoine Griezmann made this exit even sadder for Oblak and the rest of the squad. Griezmann’s heading to Orlando City this summer, bringing the curtain down on his Champions League career with Atletico. “Everyone’s going to miss Griezi; he’s an incredible player and a great guy. The kind of person who’s always smiling, always positive, and does things on the pitch nobody else can. We’ll miss him a lot; the fans will miss him, but he deserves nothing but the best wherever he goes.”
At 33, Oblak is one of Atletico’s true leaders, right behind Koke for the captain’s armband. Alongside Jose Maria Gimenez and Marcos Llorente, he’s been a
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