After a first leg that was marred by an alleged racism incident involving Vinicius Jr. and Gianluca Prestianni, tension will be high as Real Madrid and SL Benfica meet each other again this Wednesday.
UEFA is actively conducting an investigation into the incident to determine if the allegations of racism from Real Madrid are true.
Heading into this heated affair, one of Benfica’s stars, Dodi Lukebakio, offered his take on the Vinicius-Prestianni incident that dominated headlines last week.
Lukebakio hopes the racism claim is not true
Speaking to Pickx+Sports (h/t MARCA), Lukebakio offered a grounded take on the incident, sharing how he sees the entire ordeal as a black footballer.
“I’ve talked about this a lot with other people in the past, wondering how I would react if it happened to me, because we usually experience it from a distance,” he said.
Lukebakio hopes Prestianni is not culpable. (Photo by Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)
The former Watford striker went on to suggest that there is also a possibility that Real Madrid are milking the situation and that what happened on the pitch was not how Vinicius claimed.
“It’s true that people talk and speculate, but in the end, we don’t really know what was said. Is it true, or was it an exaggeration to take advantage of the situation? I think it’s also possible that Real Madrid wanted to exploit this,” he added.
Finally, the Belgian attacker admitted that UEFA investigations end up deeming Prestianni a culprit of racism, he will be happy with the Argentine and will deal with it ‘face to face’.
“All I hope is that what he said is false. Because if it’s true, I can’t accept it. I’m against injustice. And any injustice deserves to face the consequences,” he concluded.
As things stand, Prestianni has been handed a provisional one-match ban by UEFA, although Benfica have appealed against the move and have made sure the Argentine travels with the team.
If the investigation finds Prestianni culpable, the player may face a ban of up to ten matches.