Benfica coach Jose Mourinho refused to take sides with Vinicius Junior or Gianluca Prestini in their recent controversy, simply emphasizing that Benfica is not a racist club.
At the same time, the Special One criticized Vinicius, expressing his astonishment that every stadium the Brazilian star plays at with Real Madrid is plagued by problems with fans and players.
“These talents are capable of doing beautiful things like this,” Mourinho said after Benfica’s 1-0 loss to Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 playoff. “But unfortunately, Vinicius wasn’t content with simply being happy to score that amazing goal. When you score a goal like that, you should celebrate in a respectful way.”
He added, “I saw two completely different things. I want to remain neutral and not comment on it, and that’s exactly what I told Vinicius. I told him that when you score a goal like that, you just have to celebrate and go back to the center circle. And when he was arguing about racism, I told him that the most important figure (Eusebio) in the history of this club was Black.”
He continued, “This club is the furthest thing from racist. If he has any such thoughts, they don’t exist at Benfica. Vinicius and Gianluca Prestini told me different things, but I don’t believe either of them; I want to remain neutral.”
He concluded, “Something’s wrong because controversy happens at every stadium. Any stadium Vinicius plays at, something always happens. Look, I’m saying we saw 50 good minutes of football, and things changed after the goal and what happened.”
