Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior argues with Benfica’s head coach José Mourinho after scoring the opening goal during a Champions League playoff soccer match between SL Benfica and Real Madrid in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior was again at the centre of a disparaging racist abuse scandal after Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni allegedly called him a “monkey” during the Champions League playoff between the European clubs. In just eight years at Real Madrid, Brazil football star Vinicius Junior has experienced at least 26 incidents of racist abuse, according to La Liga.

The above shocking stat only highlights how far we are from eliminating racism from the world’s most popular sport in 2026. This was a prestigious Champions League game involving one of the biggest football clubs in the world, and yet racism found a way into all of this.

No surprise that Prestianni rcially abused Vinicius 

The 20-year-old Argentina winger Prestianni is young, and some may say a little stupid, but this wasn’t just some harsh tackle or choice words about a player or his family;
it was a direct attack on Vinicius’ race. It was just another way of trying to highlight race supremacy while degrading another ethnicity.

That the abuse came from Prestianni, when there were so many other Benfica players on the pitch as Vinicius scored the winning goal on Tuesday and celebrated extravagantly, was a direct result of cultural issues that persist back home in Argentina.

Argentine players have constantly been involved in alleged racist incidents on and off the football field. The Lionel Messi-led Argentina national football team was also embroiled in a similar incident after winning the Copa America by beating Colombia in the final in 2024.

This is what happened between Vinícius Jr and Prestianni.

He scored an absolute banger, he went to celebrate it, got booked, and then the Argentine Prestianni was pissed and reacted by covering his mouth to racially insult him. pic.twitter.com/Iv7tcFvAeQ

— 10 (@Kylian) February 17, 2026

In a disheartening video that went viral, Chelsea player Enzo Fernandez and his Argentina teammates were seen singing a derogatory song towards the
Black players of the French football team, questioning the legacy of their ancestors and their right to represent the European nation.

One part of the song was: “They play for France but their parents are from Angola. Their mother is from Cameroon while their father is from Nigeria. But their passport says French.”

Angered by the chants, France defender Wesley Fofana hit out at the Argentina team with a strongly worded message on X: “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism.”

In 2025, Argentina was once again among six national federations that were found guilty of racist abuse during World Cup qualifiers.

And it’s not just restricted to the national team. In 2022, supporters of Argentine football club Boca Juniors were arrested during a Copa Libertadores match against Brazil’s Corinthians in Sao Paulo for making “monkey gestures” and Nazi salutes.

Argentina wants ‘White society’

To understand the deeper reasons why Argentine players or fans have consistently been involved in racist incidents, one needs to have a closer look at their culture.

In an article from New Lines Magazine that was published in 2024, Pablo Alabarces, a professor of popular culture in the faculty of social sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, argued that Argentinians are suffering from a superiority complex.

As the population of Black people decreased in Argentina, the belief among locals that they are merely European whites living in South America has made it hard for them to have themselves compared to other races.

“Argentina has constructed several overarching myths — no nation can do without them. One such myth is that we are a European society,” Alabarces wrote.

He also added that there’s a lack of awareness among Argentines about what really constitutes racism. As the majority of the Black population in Argentina before independence were slaves, it has left behind the feeling that “Black” is a word for a classist insult, as Black people are seen as poor people.

“In Argentina, ‘there are no Black people.’ Therefore, thankfully, we are not racist — we cannot be racist. ‘Black’ is used only as a classist insult: Black people are the poor people. The poorer, the blacker. But that is not racism, according to the good conscience of the white, urban middle classes,” Alabarces added.

According to the 2022 census, Afro-Argentines make up less than 1% of Argentina’s population. Not surprisingly, it was around 15% in the 19th century, around the time of freedom from Spain. Where did they all disappear? Make of it what you may, but academicians and historians argue that there has been a concentrated effort in Argentina to make society look ‘White’ and hide Black people.

Maybe the highly frequent racist abuse acts by their footballers and fans are a symptom of the same ill-thought-out policy. The saddest thing is that there is no realisation yet that they are being racist.