Jose Mourinho seemingly blamed Vinícius Jr. after alleged racial abuse

admin_news admin_news
Feb 18, 2026 - 05:30
0 0
Jose Mourinho seemingly blamed Vinícius Jr. after alleged racial abuse

Jose Mourinho has long been one of the more outspoken and polarizing coaches in European soccer. But on Tuesday, the Benfica manager missed the mark in a disgraceful way.

In trying to defend his own player, Mourinho placed blame on Real Madrid's Vinícius Jr., who was allegedly the victim of on-field racial abuse after scoring the winning goal in Real Madrid's 1-0 UEFA Champions League win in Lisbon.

The incident started after Vini Jr. scored an all-world goal in the 50th minute from an impossible angle. In his excitement, the Real Madrid star went to the corner flag and danced to the displeasure of the Benfica crowd. That was when Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni appeared to say something to Vini Jr. while covering his mouth with his jersey.

It led to a match-stopping incident where Vini Jr. confronted Mourinho about his player's conduct.

The match went into the anti-racism protocol and was stopped for 10 minutes. But amid the protests from the Real Madrid bench, referee Francois Letexier opted against showing a red card to Prestianni.

Mourinho, for his part in arguing, was actually sent off. And after the match, he claimed that Prestianni disputed racially abusing Vini Jr. Instead, the Benfica manager said that Vini should have known better than to celebrate like that as a visiting player.

He said, translated:

"Vinicius tells me one thing, Prestianni tells me another... I can't say that I 100 percent believe only Prestianni, but neither can I say that what Vini told me is the truth ... After the golazo, you don't have to mess with 60,000 people."

It's just an awful look to place blame on the alleged victim. He's allowed to celebrate a goal. An over-the-top celebration isn't justification for racism — nothing is.

After the match, Vini Jr. took to social media to issue a statement. He called out the cowardice of racism and how Prestianni covered his mouth.

He wrote:

"Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are. But they have the protection of others who, theoretically, have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or in my team's life. I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don't understand why. On the other hand, it was just a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose. I don't like to appear in situations like this, especially after a big win and when the headlines should be about Real Madrid, but it's necessary."

We'll have to see if Prestianni faces discipline from UEFA, but Mourinho's comments certainly didn't help.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jose Mourinho seemingly blamed Vinícius Jr. after alleged racial abuse

Read More