Jose Mourinho's comments after Vinicius Junior was allegedly racially abused during Real Madrid's clash with Benfica in the Champions League last week have been condemned by Thibaut Courtois
Thibaut Courtois has become the latest figure to rebuke comments made by Jose Mourinho over Vinicius Junior's celebrations against Benfica, with the Real Madrid goalkeeper saying he is unhappy to see them being used against his team-mate after he was subjected to alleged racist abuse.
Vinicius Jr scored the only goal of the game when Real and Benfica met in the first leg of their Champions League play-off last week. The Brazil international alleged he was racially abused by Gianluca Prestianni during the game, which was halted for 10 minutes with the Real Madrid star leaving the pitch following the incident.
UEFA have launched an investigation into the allegations and Prestianni has been suspended on a provisional basis, ruling him out of the return leg this week.
Benfica's manager, Mourinho, said Vinicius Jr incited the crowd with his goal celebration after last week's game. But Courtois has dismissed those comments, insisting that cannot be used to justify racism.
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"Mourinho is Mourinho and, as a coach, you'll always defend your club," the former Chelsea goalkeeper said on the eve of Wednesday's second leg in a press conference.
"But it bothers me that Vinicius' celebration is being used against him. Vini didn't do anything bad. He celebrated the same way many rivals have celebrated against us.
"It happened, and we can't justify a suspected act of racism because of a celebration. I think we have to be less stupid as a society."
It emerged on Tuesday that Prestianni has travelled with the Benfica squad to Spain despite being unable to feature in Wednesday night's game. Mirror Football understands Prestianni could face a 10‑match ban if found guilty of racially abusing Vinicius Jr, though Benfica and the player have insisted he has done nothing wrong.
Alvaro Arbeloa, Real Madrid's head coach, has called on UEFA to use the aforementioned incident as an opportunity to send a statement with any punishment.
"We have a great opportunity to mark a turning point in the fight against racism," Arbeloa said.
"UEFA, which has always been and has led this fight against racism, now has the chance not to leave it at just a slogan, at just a nice banner before matches, and I hope that they seize this opportunity."