Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois defended his Brazilian teammate Vinicius Junior amid racism allegations. Vinicius Junior, a Real Madrid star, accused Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni of using racist language during their teams' UEFA Champions League playoff match last week. Jose Mourinho, Benfica's coach, made a controversial comment after the match, stating there is a problem in 'every stadium' where Vinicius plays, and that he caused the incident by his celebration. At the pre-match press conference for the return leg on Wednesday, Courtois said: 'Mourinho is Mourinho. As a coach, you always defend your club and believe in your player, but there is one thing that destroyed my hopes.' He added regarding Real Madrid's former coach: 'Mourinho used Vinicius's celebration as an excuse, you cannot justify racism because of a celebration.' Courtoas continued: 'Vinicius is the one who decided we would continue to play against Benfica, if he had decided to withdraw, we would have withdrawn with him.' He added: 'I fully believe what Vinicius said. Vinicius never accused any opposing player of racism, he definitely heard Prestianni say it, he told us that many times.' Courtoas went on: 'If Prestianni said that with his mouth uncovered, imagine what he said when he covered his mouth with his shirt.' The Real Madrid goalkeeper concluded by saying: 'I saw videos of Benfica fans making obscene gestures in the stadium, it was pathetic. I don't know if Benfica will punish them or not, but it was truly pathetic.'
