Benfica boss Jose Mourinho blames Vinicius Jr. for racist attack

Benfica boss Jose Mourinho made a very strong comment that seems to leave football minds in a state of ambiguity after his side’s 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in Tuesday night’s Champions League play-off first-leg encounter.

The fixture had all the attention it needed, following the Portuguese side’s heroic 4-2 win over Madrid in the group phase of the competition to qualify for the play-offs against the 15-time champions.

The grounds were set and poised for yet another intriguing fixture in Lisbon – could this be another upset?

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Vini Jr scored the only goal of the game in the Lisbon clash but was then subject to a barrage of abuse from the crowd following his celebration, which saw him dance in front of the corner flag.

Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni allegedly directed a racist remark at the Brazilian international attacker, as he was seen covering his mouth with his shirt to shield his words from nearby cameras during the exchange with the Real Madrid player.

Los Blancos were so incensed resulting in a brief walk-off the pitch for 10 minutes before returning to secure a 1-0 victory, leaving a cloud of controversy hanging over the tie ahead of next week’s second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, in Madrid.

The reaction of Benfica manager José Mourinho, meanwhile, has come under particular criticism after he chose to blame Vinicius for the incident.

The former Real Madrid boss was asked if the match-winner had incited the crowd and said: “Yes. I believe so.

“It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately he was not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way.

“I told Vinicius, when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club, Eusebio, was black.

“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.

“Vinicius and Prestianni told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be an independent.”