00:00Vinicius Junior, having scored a fabulous goal, celebrated, as any player would,
00:05and then, according to Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe, who was close by,
00:10was subjected to racial abuse from Gianluca Prestiani, one of Benfica's players.
00:16It will, of course, be difficult to prove, but I would say two things.
00:21One, why would Vinicius Junior and, indeed, Mbappe lie?
00:26This was a moment of joy for them to savour.
00:30Ungolatho. It makes no sense, really, does it, to turn that into a moment of accusation and despair?
00:36Secondly, why? Unless you were trying to smother your words, would you hide behind your shirt?
00:42Either way, once again, racism discolours the beautiful game.
00:46I would argue, though, that this goes beyond football.
00:51We live in a time where division is sown, where we're turned against each other,
00:55whether it be the colour of our skin, race, or religion.
00:59It comes from the top. We see it everywhere.
01:02Only in the last couple of weeks, we've seen the President of the United States
01:06post an image of the former President and his wife as monkeys.
01:10Now we're witnessing accusations of something similar on a football pitch.
01:15The post-match tribalism was also depressing.
01:18Jose Mourinho had the gall to blame Vinicius for celebrating his goal,
01:23basically saying he had it coming.
01:26I'm sorry, but that is gaslighting.
01:28Players celebrate goals.
01:30Should they think in a moment, if I celebrate, I'll provoke racial abuse?
01:35Of course not.
01:36It's ludicrous and wrong, I would say, to put the blame on Vinicius.
01:41Mourinho went on to say that the club's greatest ever player was black.
01:45The great Eusebio, he's right, of course, he was.
01:48But it did feel a little bit like one of those,
01:50oh, one of my mates' black moments.
01:52This was not about Benfica,
01:53even though images of two young fans were seen
01:56to be making monkey gestures at Madrid players.
01:59This was, I don't think, a moment for tribalism.
02:03It should have been a moment when all of football came together,
02:06whether it's proved that there was racist abuse or not remains to be seen.
02:11I imagine it will be very difficult.
02:15I'll be accused, probably, not for the first time,
02:18along with others, have been woke.
02:20But I think it's hugely important that it's not just black players that speak out.
02:25It needs to come from us.
02:27It seems so odd and inhumane that caring and kindness is seen as a flaw
02:32and something to be despised.
02:34I genuinely, genuinely believe, though,
02:37that the vast majority of fans inside the Stadium of Light
02:40were not prejudiced against the colour of someone's skin.
02:43I'd also say that 99% of professional footballers
02:47are genuinely not in the slightest bit racist.
02:51In fact, the multicultural harmony of dressing rooms
02:54are an example, I think, to the world.
02:56They make me proud of our sport.
02:58Alas, there'll always be the odd exception that ruins it for everyone.
03:02What happened on Tuesday night was as distressing as it was depressing.
03:07And let's just remember who the victim was
03:09and that we remain on the right side.
03:12It's not the first time we spoke of these issues.
03:16And it won't be the last, I suspect.
03:19And I think the way it turned against Vinicius was very sad.
03:24People face any rumors, look at them to be the right.
03:24and that would be the last film for someone
03:28And let's I suspect you know the third time
03:28You look at yourself, oh you're talking about being
03:28That was wonderful.
03:29And I think that's not for today.
03:29To be honest with you and that's a huge issue
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