Right. Let me be very careful here because this is a sensitive one and I'm not about to wade into the specifics of what was or wasn't said between Gianluca Prestianni and Vinícius Júnior. That's not my lane. Racism in football is vile. Always has been. Always will be. Full stop. No debate.

But here's what I will talk about. The process. Because when a player comes out publicly and says he was banned by UEFA "without proof," that should worry every single person in football. Not because of who said it. Not because of which side you're on. But because if the process isn't right, then the outcome means nothing.

That's the problem with modern football. Nobody trusts the people in charge to get anything right. And honestly, can you blame them?

In my day, if there was an incident on the pitch, it got investigated. Properly. Witnesses were spoken to. Match officials filed reports. There was a hearing where both sides put their case forward and a panel made a decision based on evidence. Was it perfect? Course it wasn't. But at least everyone understood the rules of engagement.

Now? I haven't got the foggiest idea how UEFA's disciplinary process works. And I managed for twenty years. If I can't follow it, what chance has a 20 year old Argentine lad at Benfica got?

Prestianni says he's disappointed. Says the ban came without proof. Now look, maybe there's evidence we haven't seen. Maybe UEFA have footage, lip readers, audio. Maybe they've done their homework and the kid's just not happy with the verdict. That happens. Nobody likes being found guilty.

But if he's telling the truth. If there genuinely was no concrete evidence and they handed down a ban anyway just to make a statement, just to look like they're doing something? That's dangerous. That's really, really dangerous.

Because here's the thing. Racism accusations in football need to be taken seriously. Every single time. No exceptions. Vinícius Jr has been subjected to absolutely disgusting abuse throughout his career and he's been brave enough to stand up and call it out. That takes guts. I respect that enormously.

But taking accusations seriously also means investigating them seriously. It means following due process. It means showing your workings. Because if you start handing out bans without solid evidence, you don't strengthen the fight against racism. You weaken it. You give the actual racists ammunition to claim persecution. You create doubt where there should be certainty.

Don't get me started on UEFA's track record with this sort of thing. These are the same people who fined clubs less for racist chanting than for being late back out after half time. The same organisation that's been playing catch up on discrimination for decades. And now we're supposed to trust that they've suddenly cracked the code on fair and transparent disciplinary proceedings?

Pull the other one.

What football needs, what it's always needed, is a disciplinary system that's independent, transparent, and consistent. Publish the evidence. Explain the decision. Let people see why a ban was given. If the proof is there, brilliant. Ban the player, ban him longer, make an example. Nobody will argue.

But "trust us, we've handled it" doesn't cut it anymore. Not from UEFA. Not from FIFA. Not from anyone.

Prestianni might be guilty. He might be innocent. I genuinely don't know. But the fact that we're all sitting here guessing, the fact that a player can publicly say there was no proof and UEFA haven't come out with a clear, detailed rebuttal? That tells you everything about how broken the system is.

In my day, justice was clunky. Slow. Sometimes wrong. But at least you could see it happening.

Now it just happens behind closed doors and we're all told to clap.