Highlights:
- Real Madrid player Vincius Junior has criticised Spain and La Liga for being racist.
- Vinicius Jr. confronted the La Liga fans who were making racial remarks against him.
- The most recent taunts directed at Vinicius occurred during Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss at Valencia.
Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior has voiced his concerns about racism in La Liga and Spain in the wake of a disturbing incident that occurred on Sunday at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium. Vinicius Jr. was called slurs of race by crowds, which led him to speak out about them for their conduct. This caused the game to be stopped for ten minutes. Unfortunately, tensions rose when Vinicius Jr. got into a fight with Valencia’s players, which led to his dismissal in the second half.
Vinicius wrote on Twitter, “It was not the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga. The competition considers it normal, the federation considers it normal and the rivals encourage it.”
Não foi a primeira vez, nem a segunda e nem a terceira. O racismo é o normal na La Liga. A competição acha normal, a Federação também e os adversários incentivam. Lamento muito. O campeonato que já foi de Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano e Messi hoje é dos racistas. Uma nação…
— Vini Jr. (@vinijr) May 21, 2023
“The championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano (Ronaldo) and (Lionel) Messi today belongs to the racists.
“A beautiful nation, which welcomed me and which I love, but which accepted to export to the world the image of a racist country. I am sorry for those Spaniards who disagree but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists.
He further added, “I am strong and I will go all the way against the racists. Even if it is far away from here.”
Coach Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid thought about replacing Vinicius after the player alleged that fans at Mestalla screamed “monkey” at him. Ancelotti mentioned that Vinicius initially objected to continuing the game.
He continued, “I am a powerful person, and I will fight the bigots until the bitter end. Even though it is distant from here.”
“What happened today shouldn’t happen,” Ancelotti expressed. “When a stadium yells ‘monkey’ to a player, and the coach considers taking him out of the field because of that, it means that there is something bad in this league.”
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“The game should have been stopped,” Ancelotti said. “This shouldn’t happen. It wasn’t only one person, as it has happened in several stadiums. Here, it was a stadium racially insulting a player, the game had to stop. I would have said the same thing if it was 3-0 for us. You have to stop the game, there was no way around it.”
Ancelotti mentioned that he requested the referee to halt the match but was informed that the protocol dictated making an announcement to the fans first and taking further action if the problem persisted.