Thierry Henry's emotional speech after Vinicius Junior racism claim as Benfica respond

Thierry Henry was passionate in his verdict of racism in football after Vinicius Junior was allegedly abused by Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni in the Champions League

Thierry Henry has leapt to the defence of Vinicius Junior after the Real Madrid forward was allegedly racially abused by Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni. Vinicius scored the game's only goal in Tuesday night's Champions League play-off first leg in Portugal.

After curling the ball into the top corner, Vinicius celebrated with his teammates by the corner flag and was booked for excessive celebration. Just before Benfica restarted the game, Vinicius reported the alleged abuse to referee Francois Letexier.

The Brazilian winger accused Prestianni, who was seen putting his shirt over his mouth, of being racist before walking off the pitch. The match was suspended for 10 minutes before restarting, with Madrid winning 1-0.

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Prestianni has denied Vinicius' allegation, writing on social media: "I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults at the player Vinicius Junior, who unfortunately misinterpreted what he thought he heard.

"I have never been racist and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players." Benfica shared it along with the comment: "Together, by your side."

In the aftermath of the scenes in Portugal, Thierry Henry and Micah Richards discussed the incident during CBS Sports' coverage. "I can relate to what Vinicius is going through," Henry said as he delivered an emotional speech.

"That happened to me so many times on the pitch. I talked about it so many times after games. I’ve also been accused of looking for excuses after games when that happened to me. At times, you feel lonely, because it’s going to be your word against his word.

“We don’t know what Prestianni has said, because he was very courageous by putting his shirt over his mouth to make sure that we weren’t going to see what he said, so clearly, already, you look suspicious. Because you didn’t want people to see or read what you said.

"Then, the reaction of Vinicius is telling me that something not right happened. We still don’t know what was said. Vinicus can tell us his side, and Prestianni, I’m sure, will not tell us what he actually said, because I saw at one point Kylian Mbappe confront him, and he said, ‘I didn’t say anything’.

"Well, he must have said something at the very least. You feel like you don’t know what to do anymore. We’re in 2026 and still after a game like that, where we’re supposed to talk about his brilliant goal, we shouldn’t be having to deal with the referee telling you to not go to the corner flag, because that will incite the crowd.

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“It’s a corner, can he not take a corner? He can’t go there to take a corner just because people are thinking whatever they’re thinking. Suddenly he becomes a victim. I can relate. I can assure you, when that happens, you don’t know what to do anymore.

“He tried to walk out in Spain one time, and another time, he tried to kick someone back because he’d had enough. Now he went to see the referee to tell him what happened. I’ve been there. The referee also told me he couldn’t do anything about it.”

He added: "Let's see how big of a man Prestianni is," he added. “Tell us what you said. You must have said something, because you can’t go to Mbappe and say, ‘I didn’t say anything’. What do you mean, you covered your nose for what, you have a cold?"

Richards was also very vocal on the alleged abuse Vinicius suffered on Tuesday, labelling Prestianni a "coward".