Gianluca Prestianni has been slapped with a six-match UEFA ban after a fiery row with Vinicius Junior – and could miss Argentina’s World Cup opener.
A Champions League clash on February 17 was halted for 10 minutes when Real Madrid winger Vinicius accused Benfica‘s Prestianni of racist abuse.
But Prestianni, 20, denied those allegations and has instead been charged by UEFA for homophobic conduct.
The decision marks the end of the UEFA proceedings against Prestianni, who openly admitted to using a homophobic slur but has not been found guilty of racism.
He told Telefe in Argentina: “I’ve had team-mates with the same skin colour as Vinicius and nothing ever happened with any of them – quite the opposite.
“Then they started calling me homophobic, which was too much. It felt like people were just trying to create drama.
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“For us Argentinians, words like ‘maricon’ [f*****] or ‘cagon’ [s***bag] are common insults.”
Racist slurs were alleged by Vinicius after Prestianni lifted his shirt up to cover his mouth while speaking to the Brazilian.
Prestianni publicly denied using racist language and insisted he had been misheard before serving a provisional one-match ban for the second leg in Madrid.
He will be banned for two more games in UEFA competitions, which include the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, with the remaining three matches of his ban suspended for two years.