Mourinho now on Vinicius Junior's side after Benfica racism row last season

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FT Desk

Jose Mourinho says he is now fully on the side of Vinicius Junior following the racism row that enveloped a Champions League fixture between Real Madrid and Benfica last season.

Back in the playoff first-leg tie in February, the Brazilian opened the scoring with a wonder goal and celebrated thereafter, with those celebrations apparently offending some of the Benfica players, including Gianluca Prestianni.

A melee ensued and Vinicius reported to the referee that he had been racially abused. The investigation into Prestianni was complicated by the fact that he covered his mouth while making the alleged comments.

In the end, the Argentine admitted to using homophobic language, but not racist language. He was given a six-game ban, three of which were suspended for three years.

After the game, Mourinho caused huge controversy when he shifted the blame for the incident to Vini for celebrating rather than his player.

"You score a goal from another world, why celebrate like that?" Mourinho said.

"The same thing always happens in so many stadiums. In how many states has this happened? In how many stadiums? How many? How many?

"He's an out of this world player, I love him. Vinicius tells me one thing and Prestianni tells me another. I want to be balanced."

When asked if he felt Vinicius incited the crowd, the Portuguese said: "Yes. I believe so.

"It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately [he was] not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way.

"When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black.

"This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don't believe in one or another. I want to be an independent."

Former Real Madrid Champions League-winning midfielder Clarence Seedorf said at the time: "I think he [Mourinho] is still emotional. He's saying it's OK, when Vinicius provokes you, to be racist - and I think that is very wrong.

"We should never, ever justify racial abuse. Vinicius has had enough of that unjustified behaviour from people. I know Mourinho by heart would agree with me but he expressed himself a bit unfortunately."

Mourinho received overwhelming criticism for his comments by pundits and fans. He would later look to curb some of the negative press by saying that, if Prestianni was found guilty of racism, he would never play for Benfica again while he was in charge.

Nobody outright accused Jose of racism, but they felt that putting the spotlight on the victim rather than the perpetrator shifted the narrative away from the racism accusation.

Fast forward a few months later, and Vinicius Junior is now being coached by Mourinho after the Portuguese completed a shock return to Real Madrid 13 years after being sacked.

The Madrid boss has finally addressed the elephant in the room and said he was only trying to stand by his player, Prestianni, at the time, and that he will do so now with Vini.

"He can rely on me to be on his side," he said on El Chiringuito.

"Prestianni was my player. That's it. There's no debate. If Prestianni is my player, 20 players can come at me and I'm still with Prestianni. End of story.

"I think Vini now knows what side I am now on and knows he can look me in the eye and rely on me to be on his side."

Mourinho revealed that he actually played a small part in Vini agreeing to a new contract with Los Blancos after flirting with a blockbuster switch to Arsenal, saying:

"The only thing I told him was: 'Vini, where do you want to go? You've only been in Brazil and you only know Real Madrid. You only understand Real Madrid when you leave. When you leave that's when you realise what Real Madrid is. Don't leave. It's not worth it.'

"I think what he has felt in terms of the group's growth, the way we've been working and developing, has given him a very important feeling."

Real Madrid begin their assault on the new Primera Division campaign this weekend when they face Espanyol, as they look to vastly improve on a disappointing season in 2025/26.

So far this century, Los Blancos have endured just five trophyless campaigns in 2004/05, 2005/06, 2009/10, 2020/21 and then in 2025/26. They surrendered La Liga to Barcelona in a Clasico loss, were eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Bayern Munich and were on the wrong side of one of the shocks of the season as they were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Segunda Division outfit Albacete.