Real Madrid tie halted over Vinicius racism allegation

Real Madrid's Champions League knockout phase play-off tie at Benfica was halted for 10 minutes after Vinicius Junior reported alleged racist abuse and he and his team-mates left the field.Referee Francois Letexier made the crossed arms gesture to signal racist abuse following a conversation with Vinicius.The Brazil forward had put the Spanish visitors 1-0 up in the second half at the Estadio da Luz, before being booked for an excessive celebration.Following an interaction with Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni, Vinicius ran over to referee Letexier while gesturing towards the opposition player.A Real Madrid statement said Vinicius told the referee he had been racially abused by the Argentina winger.Vinicius then walked off the pitch and was followed by his Real Madrid team-mates, but play restarted 10 minutes later, in the 60th minute.The match was played out to its conclusion, with Real winning 1-0 after 12 minutes of stoppage time, during which an object thrown from the crowd struck Vinicius on the arm.After the match, Vinicius released a statement on Instagram condemning the incident."Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to put their shirts in their mouths to show how weak they are," said Vinicius."But they have the protection of others who, theoretically, have an obligation to punish them. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or in my team's life."I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don't understand why. On the other hand, it was just a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose."Prestianni denied directing racist abuse towards Vinicius. "I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard," said the 20-year-old."I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players."