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.”