Alexander-Arnold slams 'disgraceful' Vini jr abuse
Trent Alexander-Arnold described the scenes that marred Real Madrid's Champions League win over Benfica as a "disgrace to football" after Vinicius Junior alleged he was racially abused by an opposing player.
Vinicius scored a sensational goal five minutes into the second half as Madrid claimed a 1-0 win at the Estadio da Luz, in the first leg of their knockout-round play-off tie.
But the game was overshadowed by ugly scenes immediately after Vinicius's goal. The match was paused for around 10 minutes, with the Madrid forward running over to referee Francois Letexier to raise an allegation of racist abuse.
That came after an interaction between Vinicius and Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni, leading Letexier to stop the game in line with UEFA's protocols for allegations of racist abuse.
Play eventually resumed amid a toxic atmosphere, with Vinicius also being struck by a bottle thrown from the crowd deep into 13 minutes of stoppage time.
"I can't comment too much on it, because it's an ongoing investigation at this point," ALexander-Arnold said. "But I think what happened tonight is a disgrace to football, it completely overshadowed our performance and came after a great goal.
"Vinicius has been subjected to this a few times throughout his career. It ruined our night as a team, and it was a disgrace to football. There's no place for it in football or in society.
"It's disgusting. We come out here to do a job. We love what we do. But when something like that happens, it takes the fun out of the job, it ruins it for all of us.
"We're proud of the way we handled it in a hostile environment. With the way the environment reacted to it, as well, we stood together."
Asked about the interaction between Vinicius and Prestianni, Alexander-Arnold added: "It's a difficult situation. The referee said that if he said what he said, he said it with his shirt over his mouth, so it's difficult."
Real Madrid boss Alvaro Arbeloa also highlighted Prestianni's involvement saying: "You have to ask the Benfica players what they said.
"Everyone can see what happened with Prestianni. He covered his mouth, so ask him."
Vinicius has been subjected to racist abuse on numerous occasions during his career, including by opposing fans at matches against Atletico Madrid and Valencia in LaLiga.
