"As Vinicius Jr sat on his own in the dugout at the Estadio da Luz, arguments raged on around him between coaches and players while the Real Madrid forward sipped on his water. The Brazilian had told referee Francois Letexier he had been racially abused by Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni - an allegation the Argentina international has denied. Letexier acted immediately to stop the match, raising his arm in a crossed gesture to indicate there had been an allegation of racist abuse."
"Moments earlier, the 25-year-old Vinicius had scored a world-class goal which would give Real Madrid a 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League knockout play-off round tie. Rather than player welfare, the focus turned to protocol and process. Vinicius seemed to be left ostracised and the match restarted 10 minutes later. The French official will file his report to Uefa, which will now complete its own investigation into the events in Lisbon. But could it be handled any better?"
"But could it be handled any better? "It is the least bad of a set of terrible options," Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari told BBC Sport. "I don't think anyone feels really happy with it, and I think everyone feels dissatisfied with it. "But I don't think anyone's been able to come up with an alternative that's better.""
Vinicius Jr reported alleged racial abuse by Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni during the Champions League tie in Lisbon and removed himself from the pitch. Referee Francois Letexier stopped the match, signalled an allegation of racist abuse, and passed details to the fourth official. The match restarted about 10 minutes later after negotiations between the teams. UEFA will investigate following receipt of the referee's report. UEFA's three-step racism protocol gives referees powers to halt or suspend matches but relies on hearing the alleged abuse or eyewitness reports. Critics say the protocol prioritizes procedure over player welfare and leaves players feeling ostracised.
Read at www.bbc.com
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