Real boost for Madrid

Madrid: There won’t be another confrontation between Vinícius Júnior and Gianluca Prestianni in the Champions League this week.

Real Madrid and Benfica will meet at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Wednesday but UEFA banished Prestianni from the game on Monday following accusations he racially abused Vinícius in the first leg of the knockout round last week.

Madrid won 1-0 in Lisbon after Vinícius scored in the second half. But when the Brazil forward celebrated by the Benfica corner flag and upset the local fans and players, the game was halted for nearly 10 minutes. Prestianni confronted Vinícius, who accused the Argentine of calling him “monkey.” Prestianni denied racially insulting Vinícius.

The anti-racism protocol was activated but no further action was taken during the match as there was no evidence against Prestianni, who covered his mouth with his shirt while talking to Vinícius. The Madrid forward was shown a yellow card after his celebration.

UEFA said the one-match suspension of Prestianni from its control, ethics and disciplinary body was related to discriminatory behavior.

“This is without prejudice to any ruling that the UEFA disciplinary bodies may subsequently make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and its respective submission to the UEFA disciplinary bodies,” it said in a statement.

Benfica said in a statement that it lamented that Prestianni was suspended while the investigation was underway. It said it would appeal UEFA’s suspension. Portuguese media said Prestianni was expected to travel to Madrid with the squad.

Juve’s crisis

The Italian giants need a comeback when they will host Galatasaray on Wednesday after losing 5-2 in the first leg in Turkey.

Juventus have been struggling, though, and are coming off a 2-0 home loss to Como in Serie A that hurt their hopes of Champions League qualification next season. It was Juventus’ third straight defeat across all competitions.