Liam Rosenior slams racism in football as 'unacceptable' as Chelsea head coach weighs in on row

The Brazilian forward alleged Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni had subjected him to racial abuse during the match.

Vinicius briefly walked off the pitch before eventually returning to complete the game.

Rosenior declined to comment specifically on the ongoing case but made clear his position on how racism should be addressed within the sport.

Benfica have rallied behind their player, asserting that Prestianni is the target of a "defamation campaign".

The Portuguese club's manager Jose Mourinho has also weighed in, suggesting Vinicius provoked the situation through his goal celebration.

Prestianni has rejected the accusations of directing racist language at the Real Madrid star.

Should Uefa find the Benfica player guilty, he faces a suspension of at least 10 matches from European competition.

While steering clear of the specific allegations, Rosenior emphasised that football's governing bodies need to adopt a more robust approach when tackling racism in the sport.

He said: "It’s upsetting. There’s context that needs to be had in terms of this situation. What I will say…any form of racism in society is unacceptable. I cannot speak about an incident where an investigation is ongoing.

"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."

He added: "What people have to understand is when you are judged for something 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 club, make my statement on it. If any coach, player or manager is ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn’t be in the game. It’s as simple as that for me."

Rosenior, who is of mixed heritage, wrote an open letter to US president Donald Trump in June 2020, published in The Guardian, in the days after the murder by a police officer of George Floyd in Minneapolis, an event that helped fan the global Black Lives Matter movement.

In it, he referred to "an unjust, corrupt and fundamentally prejudiced society” in America that was a part of a centuries-old legacy of racism.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s game at home to Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday, he returned to the theme of a wider problem of discrimination in society.

During last week’s FA Cup game away to Hull, home supporters could be heard chanting homophobic slurs directed against visiting fans.

Vinicius has spoken out multiple times against racism he has been subjected to inside stadiums, saying in November 2024: "I play in Spain, where I suffered a lot and still suffer."

In June of that year, three Valencia fans were jailed for eight months for racially abusing Vinicius during a LaLiga game in May 2023, in the first verdict of its kind in Spain.

Rosenior said: "This is a very, very complex situation. When you speak about discrimination or race or gender.

"There are a lot of things need to change in our society. I’m not talking about football. There’s a lot of division. There’s a lot of people in the media make prejudgements on people based on sexual orientation, what country they come from, what religion they are, what colour skin they have.

"It sickens me, to be honest. It’s a wider debate than just football. People need to be held a lot more accountable than they are in terms of social media, in terms of the press, to make sure these things are stamped out.

"Everybody should be judged equally based on the content of their character."

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