Gianluca Prestianni receives ban for ‘homophobic conduct’ following Vinicius Jr incident

Gianluca Prestianni has received a six-game ban, with three of those matches suspended and one of them already served, for “homophobic conduct” after Real Madrid ’s Vinicius Jr said he was racially abused by the Benfica and Argentina player during a Champions League match in February.

The ruling follows an investigation into “discriminatory behaviour” by Uefa , after Vinicius Jr alleged Prestianni had made a racist slur towards him. Prestianni denied the charge of using racist language and claimed instead that he had used an “anti-gay” slur.

Prestianni was provisionally suspended from the return leg of the Champions League play-off between the teams two months ago, so he will only be sidelined for two further matches unless he commits another offence during a two-year probationary period.

Uefa’s ruling on Friday confirmed the following:

Uefa’s ruling means that Prestianni’s punishment would apply to matches at this summer’s World Cup, but only if the 20-year-old winger is called up by Argentina and Fifa extends the ban worldwide. Otherwise, it would be served in next season’s Uefa competitions.