No provocation can serve as a justification for racism, especially when invoked by someone who has themselves engaged in such practices. This principle was starkly illustrated during a match between Cádiz and Valencia in April 2021. The Franco-Guinean player Mouctar Dikhaby threatened to leave the pitch, asserting that the Cádiz defender Juan Cala had called him a “black shit”. Ultimately, he decided against abandoning the game to avoid a potential sanction.
In response to the incident, LaLiga initiated a formal investigation. Officials meticulously reviewed footage from all 14 cameras covering the broadcast, analyzed audio recordings, and even enlisted a specialist firm for lip-reading analysis. The findings, however, were inconclusive. The experts could only confirm that Cala uttered phrases such as “shit”, “leave me alone”, and “sorry, don’t get angry”. Consequently, the league found no evidence to incriminate Cala, a situation that appears to mirror the current case involving Prestianni, where condemning proof seems equally elusive.
An Inevitable Outcome
Regardless of the eventual resolution in Prestianni’s situation, one consequence is already unavoidable. The parallel drawn here underscores a recurring challenge in football: the difficulty of proving allegations of racial abuse on the pitch, despite the gravity of the accusations and the profound impact they have on the individuals involved and the sport’s integrity.