Coach José Mourinho said today that his position in the Prestianni case was the correct one and that, if the Argentine footballer is found guilty, his career with him and with Benfica “will come to an end.”
“I think I was the one who took the correct position. I neither defended my own player nor attacked the other. I wanted to be impartial in a case that could potentially be very serious. If my player did not respect my principles and those of Benfica, his career with me and at Benfica is over. But the presumption of innocence is a human right,” Mourinho said at a press conference.
The preview of Monday’s away match against Gil Vicente, for the 24th round of the Portuguese Primeira Liga, was also marked by this case, in which Prestianni was accused of making racist insults towards Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior, of Real Madrid, during the first leg of the Champions League play-off.
“I still stick with the ‘if’. Unfortunately, to remove the player [from the second leg], UEFA found some article to justify suspending him. They also chose not to include an ‘if’, which should have been there. If the player is indeed guilty, I will never look at him in the same way again, but I have to put many ‘ifs’ before that,” the coach stressed.
Mourinho strongly condemned “any kind of discrimination, prejudice and ignorance,” but advised people to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He also addressed the issue of Sidny Cabral requesting Vinícius’ shirt.
“I don’t think asking for the shirt is criticisable, but it could have been avoided. It’s normal practice for players to swap shirts, especially in big matches that mark a career. It’s even more natural when they admire players of an ‘astronomical’ level. It could have been avoided, given what happened during the week, but nothing more than that,” said the 63-year-old coach from Setúbal.
Having been sent off in the first leg of the Champions League play-off, Mourinho watched the match in Madrid from the team bus and explained why he did not speak to the media, saying it was standard practice in his career.
Read more about this topic: Prestianni is provisionally suspended by UEFA following reports of discriminatory behavior (with video)
“Being away from the bench saddened me. It’s frustrating, but the work was done. Staying on the bus is something I always do when I’m suspended. I had four monitors with different angles. The only thing I missed was direct contact,” he said, adding: “If I’m barred from working, from going to the dressing room and from communicating directly with the players, why should I go to the press conference? Whenever I’m suspended, I never attend press conferences.”
Benfica, currently third with 55 points, visit Gil Vicente, fifth with 40, on Monday at 20:15, at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, in a match refereed by João Gonçalves.
