The Spanish football championship was again noticed with racist insults on Sunday evening. And it was again Vinicius, the Real Madrid player, who was sent off at the end of the match, who was the target, after the defeat against Valencia CF (0-1).
In a press conference after the match, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti defended his player: “Thinking about taking a player out because of racism, that had never happened to me. What happened today [dimanche, NDLR] has already happened to us, but in this way, no. This is unacceptable. The Spanish La Liga has a problem with racism. And the problem is not Vinicius. Vinicius is the victim. But there is a very serious problem. »
Throughout the match, the public at the Mestalla stadium targeted the young Brazilian, hurling insults at him. But doubts remain as to the content of the insults. Carlo Ancelotti claimed to have heard “mono”, or monkey in Spanish. A journalist told him that the spectators were shouting “tonto”, which means fool. An explanation that did not convince the Italian coach. “Why do you think the referee stopped the game? Because the public was shouting “fool” at Vinicius? No. The referee interrupted the game because he opened the racism protocol,” he said.
Around the 70th minute of play, Vinicius pointed the finger at a supporter, then the players went to report the facts to the referee. “I asked him [à Vinicius, NDLR] if he wanted to continue playing, and he wanted to continue. The referee told me that he also had to continue, that he was going to apply the protocol if it happened again. But it happened again, because when he sent him off with a red card, the whole stadium started singing ‘monkey, monkey’… This can’t go on… I’m very sad,” Carlo said. Ancelotti.
In addition to this incident, another scuffle between the Brazilian striker and Hugo Duro led to “Vini” being sent off in the 90th minute 7, but the referee decided not to penalize Duro. “What the racists have won is my expulsion. It’s not football. It’s La Liga,” Vinicius reacted on Instagram after the game.
A post shared by Vinicius Jr. ?????? (@vinijr)
In a statement released after the match, Valencia CF said it “publicly condemns all kinds of insults, attacks or contempt”, and “regrets the events” on Sunday, evoking however an “isolated act”. “The club is investigating the facts that have taken place and will take the most severe measures,” the club said.
“In all the stadiums in Spain people are continuously disrespecting Vinicius,” teammate Dani Ceballos told Movistar at the final whistle. “If ‘Vini’ had said ‘I’m leaving the field’, I would have gone with him. It’s something we can’t tolerate,” added Thibaut Courtois, who also heard “monkey cries around the 20th minute.”
“There have already been complaints, but what happened? Nothing at all. The one and only solution is to stop the game,” concluded Carlo Ancelotti.
