Benfica manager Jose Mourinho has declared that it was ‘not easy’ for him and his team after Vinicius Junior was fouled by winger Gianluca Prestianni. The Portugal manager also came under fire for his post-match comments, speaking out for the first time since Tuesday.
Mourinho criticized Vinicius after the game, saying the Real Madrid star had upset the fans with his celebrations, and refused to go along with Vinicius or Prestianni. The Brazilian player is reported to have been offended by his comments, while Lilian Thuram said his comments ‘look like white people’.
Mourinho in the Benfica team after the incident of racism
UEFA opened an investigation into the incident, after Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe both claimed to have heard Prestianni call Vinicius a ‘monkey’. Prestianni denied insulting Vinicius. On Friday, Mourinho was asked
“The game was very difficult in all aspects. Until the 50th minute, it was a very strong game, physically and tactically, which required the right concentration to play at that level. But I must admit that from the 50th minute until now, it was not easy to handle emotionally everything that happened and continues to happen. But tomorrow (Saturday) important games for AV and our dream. Winning is important.
🚨 Mourinho wants to voice the Vinicius incident in Benfica-Real Madrid:
🔙 “Desde el minuto 51 hasta ahora, y no terminará, no ha sido facil”. pic.twitter.com/UVOpvxZnXr
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) February 20, 2026
Aursnes is an injury doubt for the Real Madrid match
If Prestianni is to play at the Bernabeu, he will be young after missing Benfica’s game against AVS this weekend. Midfielder Fredrik Aursnes is skeptical though.
“Gianluca Prestianni is suspended from the league game, and I have no problem expecting that Fredrik Aursnes will have to stop if we hope he will be able to play in Madrid. He is not ready to play tomorrow. So we will do something, but we always remember that the game is difficult and we have to win.”
Vincent Kompany echoes Mourinho’s criticism
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany was applauded for his comments on the matter, where he described Mourinho’s words as ‘almost too bad.’
“For me, what happened after that was almost worse. Jose Mourinho attacked Vini’s character by saying his kind of celebration of insults that he was doing at the time. It was a big mistake in terms of leadership.”
“When Mourinho, who was knocked down at Old Trafford, when he celebrated with Inter in front of the Barcelona fans, when he was with AS Roma against Sevilla, in these times, if someone racially abused Mourinho, I hope we will say again ‘stop, it doesn’t matter what he does’.
🚨 Kompany explains Vinicius y ataca and Mourinho:
❌ “Fue un error en cuanto a leadership”. pic.twitter.com/R62UCNb4zK
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) February 20, 2026
During the press conference after the match, Mourinho announced that Benfica is not a racist club, and their main player was black – Eusebio.
“He said that Benfica cannot be racist because the greatest player they ever had was Eusebio. Do you know what the Black players had to go through in the 1960s? Did he go with Eusebio to every away game to see if he was suffering? Using his name today is against Vini…”
“In fact, I don’t see my place in many things that are happening today, so I don’t want to be part of one group or the other. I have met 100 people who have worked with Jose Mourinho. I have never heard anyone speak badly about him. All his players love him. I understand the kind of person he is, I understand that he fights for his team. I know, I don’t need that person,” he said.
“I know what I heard, I understand what he did, but he made a mistake.
