Benfica's Prestianni gets provisional one-match ban over Vinicius incident

Benfica will be without Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni for the second leg of its Champions League playoff round tie on Wednesday after UEFA on Monday handed the player a provisional one-game ban over an alleged racist insult aimed at Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr. in last week's first leg.

The match was stopped for 10 minutes at Benfica's Estadio da Luz after Vinicius complained to the referee that Prestianni had used a racist term against him following the Brazilian's goal, which proved decisive.

Prestianni covered his mouth when the alleged insult was made. It was impossible to see from TV replays what he actually said.

UEFA has opened an investigation into the incident and said it believes there is evidence to support a "prima facie violation" of its rules.

"This is without prejudice to any ruling that the UEFA disciplinary bodies may subsequently make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and its respective submission to the UEFA disciplinary bodies," UEFA's statement added.

Benfica confirmed Prestianni will travel to Madrid with the rest of the squad for Wednesday's match and said it will appeal the decision "even though the deadlines in question are unlikely to have any practical effect on the second leg of the Champions League playoff."

The club also confirmed that coach Jose Mourinho, who was sent off for protesting in the closing minutes of the first leg, will not give a pregame press conference, with assistant coach Joao Tralhao addressing the media at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.