Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has issued some advice to Benfica after Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr reported alleged racist abuse
Jamie Carragher has referenced the racism incident between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra to issue some advice to Benfica. Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. reported alleged racist abuse to the referee during their Champions League clash with Benfica on Tuesday night.
Vinicius scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory for the Spanish club, before going on to be booked for excessive celebrations. Shortly before the restart, Vinicius ran towards referee Francois Letexier to report that he had been racially abused by Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni.
The Madrid star went on to post a statement about the alleged racist abuse, before Prestianni went on to post his own message denying that he said anything racist towards Vinicius.
Benfica’s official X account also posted a video taken from the sidelines showing the moment when Prestianni pulled his shirt over his mouth before allegedly saying something towards Vinicius. Benfica used the clip to claim that none of the Madrid players could have heard what was said, despite Eduardo Camavinga and Kylian Mbappe being nearby.
READ MORE: Mark Clattenburg issues statement after backlash to coverage of Vinicius Jr racism incidentREAD MORE: Gianni Infantino sends warning as UEFA open investigation into Vinicius Jr racism allegation
“As the images demonstrate, given the distance, the Real Madrid players could not have heard what they claim to have heard,” the post from Benfica read.
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Carragher has now given his opinion on the incident, and went on to use his own experience from being at Liverpool at the time of the racism storm involving Suarez and Evra.
Suarez was given an eight-game ban after being found guilty of racially abusing Evra during a 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Manchester United in 2011.
Liverpool went on to stand by Suarez and wore t-shirts supporting the striker at their next match. It took until 2020 for the Reds to issue an apology to Evra.
Carragher gave that apology, and now the former Liverpool defender has used his own experience to issue some advice to Benfica.
“Most people in football now are looking at the situation, and looking at Benfica, and thinking that they’ve got this horribly wrong,” Carragher said on CBS Sports, speaking alongside Thierry Henry, Micah Richards and host Kate Scott.
“Sometimes when you’re inside a football club, your judgment’s clouded [and] you back your player no matter what the situation, and even with something as so serious as racism.
“I’ve been there as a player inside a football club, we had a situation like this where I think the whole of football was looking at us, and thinking that we got it totally wrong at Liverpool. An incident between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra 10-15 years ago.
“It took a long time for us inside the club to accept that we got this badly wrong.
“Thierry [Henry] mentioned there will be an investigation, there was an investigation then at that time, and it came out what Luis [Suarez] had said.
“I was on a TV show with Patrice Evra a good few years later and apologised that we, as a football club, had got this totally wrong, and the club followed suit as well.
“If there is an investigation, and hopefully there is, we can get to the bottom of it.
“I think that most of us feel that what happened was really unjust to Vini Jr. And, if there is an investigation, I just hope in time that Benfica and the people around that club can apologise if the accusation is right, but also realise some of the things they got involved in themselves – putting a tweet out hours after, trying to question the validity of Vini Jr and the Real Madrid players – has been poor. And hopefully, if it comes out the way we think is what happened, they [Benfica] apologise.”
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