Champions League Takeaway: Sometimes the Football is Secondary

Ranks FC - A Football Podcast · Feb 18, 2026 · 13m

Hello gang,

Sometimes the events in games are overshadowed by more insidious ones that dominate the headlines. This is one such occasion, and so it didn't feel particularly right to talk about the football after the scenes in the Benfica game, where Vinicius Jr walked off the pitch following comments made to him by Gianluca Prestianni.

What was said, we don't fully know, because Prestianni pulled his shirt up to cover his face whilst saying it, which is pretty suspect in itself. But it was enough to spark some very heated confrontations, and for the referee to instigate the racial abuse…