Footballer Gianluca Prestianni suspended for six matches for ‘homophobic conduct’ after insulting Vinicius

The sanction fell, but not for the comments denounced by Vinicius. This Friday, UEFA imposed a six-match suspension on Gianluca Prestianni for “discriminatory conduct”, specifying the “homophobic” nature of his behavior.

At the end of February, Vinicius had however accused the Argentinian of having called him a “monkey” during the Champions League play-off between Benfica and Real Madrid. Accused of racism, the 20-year-old winger defended himself to UEFA by instead citing homophobic remarks.

A match already served

The body that governs European football used this reason to suspend Prestianni for “a total of 6 official UEFA club and/or national team matches”. “The suspension for three of these matches is accompanied by a suspended period of two years, from the date of this decision,” the organization said. She clarified that she considered that he had already served one of his matches during the return play-off played at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

The Argentine winger was accused of insulting Vinicius by covering his mouth with his jersey during the C1 play-off first leg. The referee interrupted the match for ten minutes and the player was then provisionally suspended for the return match by UEFA.

“What hurt me the most was being accused of something I never did,” Prestianni assured Argentine television. It hurt me a lot, I was sanctioned without proof for something I didn’t say. » UEFA had already suspended him for the return play-off against Real, which ended with the Merengues qualifying for the round of 16 of the Champions League (1-0, 2-1).