Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé is demanding that action be taken against Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni, alleging the Argentinian midfielder racially abused Vinícius Júnior during Tuesday's Champions League playoff first leg.
Vinícius accused Prestianni of racial abuse shortly after the Brazilian scored the winning goal in the 50th minute, leading to the match in Lisbon to being paused for 10 minutes.
Prestianni, 20, has denied Vinícius' claims on social media stating that the Brazil international "misinterpreted what he thinks he heard."
The 20-year-old Argentina forward faces a potential 10-match ban if found guilty of racial abuse in UEFA's disciplinary code. The European football governing body said Wednesday it has appointed a special investigator to gather evidence.
Mbappé defended Vinícius after the game, and told Spanish TVE: "There's Benfica's No. 25, I don't want to say his name because he doesn't deserve to be named, that started speaking badly.
"Then he pulled his jersey up to here [covering his mouth] to say that Vini is a monkey five times. I heard it. There are Benfica players that also heard it."
Benfica have argued that Madrid players could not have heard alleged racist abuse because of the noise at the stadium and the distance between the players.
"I have maximum respect for Benfica, for their coach [José Mourinho], one of the best in history, that is part of Real Madrid's history," Mbappé said.
"But this player [Prestianni] doesn't deserve to play this competition. We have to give the best example to youngsters, if we let this go, then the values of football serve for nothing, everything we believe in is for nothing. We have to do something."
Benfica coach Mourinho criticised Vinícius for his goal celebration which he considered a provocation to the home fans. Vinícius celebrated the only goal of the game by dancing by the corner flag, before exchanging words with several Benfica players including Prestianni.
Mbappé leapt to Vinícius' defence and wrote on X: "[Dance] Vinícius and please never stop. They will never tell us what we have to do or not."
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Vinícius has frequently been targeted with racist abuse by opposing fans since arriving in Spain from Brazil in 2018, with some abusers prosecuted and convicted in Spanish courts.
"It's not the first time that Vini has experienced a case like this," Mbappé said. "I really hurt for him...
"There's always people that defend it by saying that he talks, that he provokes. Has Vini provoked in his career? Possibly. Has he done bad things in his career? Possibly.
"But he's never going to deserve something like this. I can't understand how there are people that tell me that he deserves this.
"Those are people that have never experienced or will be never experience this and that's why they speak like that. I will never think that there is a human being who deserves this kind of treatment."