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Jose Mourinho sounded like he was victim blaming - but Vinicius Junior needs empathy over alleged racist abuse
Vinicius Junior had every right to want to leave the pitch - and for the game to be abandoned.
Because while he is a superstar of the game, well used to the biggest Champions League occasions, being the target of racism cannot be excused as coming with football's tribalism. This was reporting being racially abused at work.
Just after adding another wondrous strike to his collection of goals. The accused - Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni - has every right to a thorough process if he persists with denials.
And the UEFA case has to be watertight before imposing the minimum 10-game ban for racism. But Benfica have gone beyond defending their man with statements, showing no empathy with a player who has been singled out for hate because he is black too often in his career.
There has been no acknowledgement of how difficult it is to take a stand and report abuse, halting a match being watched worldwide by millions. There has been no recognition of the anguish Vinicius will be feeling, even if, as a club, you do not believe he was called a monkey by Prestianni on Tuesday night in Lisbon - five times, according to his Real teammate Kylian Mbappe.
You can recognise that personal pain as a club without admitting wrongdoing. For all the courage and dignity demonstrated by Vinicius - praised by his Brazilian FA bosses - there was only deflection and no compassion from Jose Mourinho and Benfica.
They only complained about facing a "defamation campaign.
Amir Nisi
Creative and experienced content writer with 6+ years of experience lazy to create unique content strategy for News5 to turn website visitors into customers.
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