If he were selected by his national team for the Football World Cup football, Gianluca Prestianni, an Argentine player based in Lisbon, would miss the first two matches, FIFA having “extended at international level” the six-match suspension imposed on him by UEFA for homophobic conduct.
I am not racist, I am homophobic. The astonishing defense adopted by Gianluca Prestianni, the Argentine player for Benfica Lisbon, after insults directed at the Real Madrid Brazilian Vinicius Júnior on the field, did not have the expected result. Suspended for six matches, three of them suspended, by UEFA’s disciplinary chamber for conduct “discriminatory (homophobic)”, the footballer has just learned that his sanction has been extended “to international level” by FIFA, the organizer of the World Cup.
The 20-year-old winger had been accused, during the first leg of the Champions League playoff on February 17 between Benfica Lisbon and Real Madrid, of insulting Vinicius by covering his mouth with his jersey. The Brazilian targeted, of African origin, had complained of being called “monkey”. The referee had therefore halted the match for ten minutes, and Prestianni had been provisionally suspended by UEFA for the return leg. Believing that the Argentinian “did not deserve to dispute the Champions League”, Kylian Mbappé had wished that the European football body take “decisions”.
Caramba, Homophobia Does Not Fly!
On his Instagram account, Gianluca Prestianni initially denied the accusation, arguing that the Madrilenian would have “unfortunately misinterpreted what he thought he heard”. Summoned afterward by the UEFA disciplinary chamber, he offered a defense, to say the least, on the hierarchy of discriminations in the mind of the footballer… He would thus have stated, according to the American ESPN network, that he had uttered a homophobic insult in Spanish, and not a racist slur. The defense, beyond his expectations, was upheld: he is suspended for six matches, three of which are suspended (including the one already served) for conduct “discriminatory (homophobic)”.
By extending his sanction, at the request of UEFA, the disciplinary commission of the international federation of football threatens the player’s potential path to the 2026 World Cup, which begins on June 11 on the North American continent (Canada, Mexico, United States), for which Argentina has qualified. Gianluca Prestianni has very little experience with the Albiceleste, having played under this shirt only four minutes in a friendly match in November against Angola. But if he were to be selected, he would miss the first two matches of the tournament. Something to make him reflect on the meaning of his defense.
