After Jose Mourinho's controversial reaction to Vinicius Jr's allegation of racist abuse against Gianni Prestianni, Liam Rosenior has responded to the ex-Chelsea manager
Liam Rosenior speaking in a press conference
Liam Rosenior opened up about the situation regarding the alleged racism in Benfica's Champions League clash against Real Madrid(Image: YouTube/HaytersTV)
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Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior opted to not make a direct comment against Jose Mourinho's contentious reaction to the alleged racist abuse Vinicius Jr suffered. However, the Blues boss did open up about a time when he was racially abused.
Before the Blues' most recent press conference, Real Madrid forward Vinicius accused Benfica star Gianni Prestianni of making a racist comment towards him. There is video footage of the Brazilian forward immediately reporting the alleged comment to the referee, moments after Prestianni said something as he lifted his shirt over his mouth.
UEFA have already instigated an investigation into the incident, which will see Vinicius, Prestianni and any potential witnesses be interviewed. However, after the match, Mourinho infuriated many in the footballing world, when he said Vinicius' celebration after his goal at the Estadio Da Luz was "disrespectful" before suggesting the South American instigated the abuse.
In his press conference ahead of Chelsea's next match against Burnley, Rosenior described the incident as "upsetting," but opted to not completely address Mourinho's reaction. The Chelsea head coach said: "Again, it's context. What I would say is regardless how a player celebrates, race should never come into it.
"That is an ongoing investigation. What I'm not going to do, I don't know the context of the situation. I don't know the context in which Jose said what he said, and I won't make a judgement on it.
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"It's the same thing. I won't make a judgement until you get the facts. It's difficult for me to make a judgement. What I will say is if any player or any coach is ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn't be in the game. It's as simple as that."
When asked to address the actual incident, Rosenior looked back on a moment when he also received racial abuse. He said: *"*It's upsetting. There's context that needs to be had in terms of this situation. Always there has to be context to it.
"What I will say, you can see any form of racism in society, let alone football, is unacceptable. It's unacceptable. I cannot speak about an incident where an investigation is ongoing. I won't speak about that incident.
Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid speaks to Jose Mourinho, Head Coach of Benfica, after a clash with Gianluca Prestianni during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off First Leg match between SL Benfica and Real Madrid C.F. at Estadio do SL Benfica on February 17, 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal
Mourinho had an exchange of words with Vinicius when the match was halted as part of UEFA's anti-racism protocol(Image: Getty Images)
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"What I would say is when you see a player upset, how Vinicius Junior was upset, normally they're upset for a reason. I've been racially abused myself. I know people have been racially abused.
"What people have to understand is when you are judged for something that you should be proud of, it is the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine. There are historical things to racism. I need to, as manager of this unbelievable football club, make my statement on it.
"If any player or any coach or any manager has ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn't be in the game. It's as simple as that for me. What I will not do categorically is talk about one incident when there's an ongoing investigation."
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