S.L. Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni has denied racially abusing Vinícius Júnior during last week’s UEFA Champions League clash against Real Madrid C.F.. Prestianni has been handed a provisional one-match suspension by UEFA and is set to miss the second leg of the play-off tie. The incident reportedly occurred after Vinícius scored the winning goal in the first leg in Lisbon and celebrated in front of Benfica supporters. The 20-year-old Argentine is alleged to have used the word “mono” — Spanish for “monkey” — toward Vinícius. However, Prestianni has denied making a racist remark. According to reports, he claims instead to have used a homophobic slur in response to alleged comments about his height. Standing at 5ft 5in, Prestianni is among the shorter players in the competition. ...