The Spanish Police have arrested seven men for separate racist incidents aimed at Vinicius Junior. When four persons were seized in January on suspicion of hanging an effigy of Vinicius from a bridge in Madrid, the police recognized three of the men as being a member of a “radical group of fans of a Madrid group” that had been previously classified as “high risk.” The day before Real and Atletico Madrid, two rival city teams, played in a Copa del Rey game, the effigy was put on display with the words “Madrid hates Real.” Three more men were taken into custody in Valencia on Tuesday in relation to the racial epithets hurled at Vinicius during Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss at the Mestalla on Sunday.
In reaction to Real’s claim that the abuse was a hate crime, the winger said LaLiga “belongs to the racists” in retaliation. The game was stopped in the second half for 10 minutes when the 22-year-old, who was plainly furious, grabbed the referee and pointed towards the onlookers he thought had attacked him. From some sections of the audience, yells were directed against Vinicius. Vinicius got into a brawl with striker Hugo Duro, and was eventually sent out of the game for acting violently during extra time. In the preceding two seasons, La Liga filed nine criminal complaints saying that the Brazilian had received racial epithets on several occasions.
La Liga has requested a reform in Spanish legislation so that it will have sanctioning authority to assist them combat racism more successfully. La Liga can now only identify and report cases; however, it will now work to change the law to allow it to additionally impose sanctions.
“It wasn’t the first, second, or third time, either. In La Liga, racism is commonplace. In football, they believe it to be normal, the federation agrees, and the opposition supports it. I’m so depressed. Racism now holds the title that formerly belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano [Ronaldo], and Lionel Messi,” Vinicius Junior tweeted. “A stunning country that I like and that welcomed me consented to project the stereotype of a racist society to the rest of the globe. I’m sorry for the Spanish people who disagree, but Brazil now views Spain as a racist nation. Unfortunately, I have no defense for something that occurs every week. I let it take place. But I am a strong person, and I will fight racism until the very end. even if it is far away.”
Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, urged La Liga to “stop talking, start acting” and outlined five measures that must be taken to remedy the issue, including educating children about racism in the classroom and excluding anyone found guilty from entering stadiums throughout the world.
“Real Madrid vehemently denounces the actions taken against our youngster Vinicius Junior yesterday. The social and democratic coexistence paradigm of our state, which is built on the rule of law, has been directly attacked by these occurrences,” Real Madrid said in a statement. “Real Madrid considers such assaults to be hate crimes as well and has submitted the appropriate report to the Attorney General’s Office
Although Carlo Ancelotti asked additional action be taken against those guilty, he claimed that he did not believe Vinicius would quit Real as a result of the abuse he endures.
“He loves football and Real Madrid, therefore I don’t believe he will leave. He has a deep passion for the team and wants to build a career there. Vinicius is dejected. He is innocent. He is a victim who occasionally risks being labeled as guilty when people accuse him of inciting them or criticizing his attitude. No. Let’s be quite clear: Vinicius is the one who is suffering from all of this. Since nothing has been done thus far, I demand action. Like everyone else, we’re concerned about what happened,” Ancelotti said. “Apart from racism, which is the most significant issue, insulting appears to be ingrained in people’s habits. I concur with Xavi’s statement: why is insulting considered acceptable? Why is it a football habit? This has to end. Simply put, we’re sick of daily insults. This is a sport, not a battle. Condemning is insufficient. Racism is something that we have long condemned. But after judging, one must take action. Nobody has yet taken any action to solve this issue. Racism and insults are problems, respectively.”
For more football news, click here
