Soccer star Gianluca Prestianni, who plays for Portuguese club Benfica, has been suspended for six matches for using a gay slur against Real Madrid player Vinicius Jr. during a UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League match in Lisbon on February 17.

After Vinicius Jr. scored a goal in the second half of the game, he told the referee that Prestianni shouted a racial slur at him, The Athletic reported. The following day, UEFA opened an investigation into Vinicius Jr.’s allegation. In the meantime, he was suspended for the next Champions League match.

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The investigation did find Prestianni guilty of using a slur, but a homophobic one, rather than a racist one. OutSports reported that folks disagree over the severity of the Spanish-language slur in question. Prestianni is Argentine.

UEFA gave him a six-match suspension. Three of those matches are suspended for two years, while the one he missed during the investigation also counts toward the six. This means he must still sit out his next two UEFA games.

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UEFA reportedly asked the global soccer organization, FIFA, to enforce Prestianni’s ban worldwide, meaning his two-game suspension would apply to the World Cup, which begins on June 11.

During the investigation, he posted on social media to defend himself:  “I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard. I was never racist with anyone, and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players.”

According to The Athletic, Real Madrid player Kylian Mbappe claims he heard Prestianni call Vinicius a monkey five times. Video of the incident shows Prestianni covering his mouth with his shirt while speaking, making it impossible to read his lips.

“Vini told us the Prestianni guy called him a ‘monkey,’ but the Benfica player was saying he only called him a ‘m*ricon,'” said Aurelien Tchouameni, who is French but plays for Real Madrid. “Monkey” is “mono” in Spanish, and “m*ricon” means “fa***t” in Spanish.

A statement on Benfica’s website stood by Prestianni, saying that it “fully supports and believes in the version presented by” him and maintains its “historical and unwavering commitment to defending the values of equality, respect, and inclusion.”

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