Vinicius Jr has had enough.
The Real Madrid striker, who attracted racist chants from the stands of Spanish stadiums for the past two seasons, took to social media after the latest attack on him on Sunday, when fans in Valencia called him a monkey. This time, he aimed not only at his abusers but also at Spain itself.
“It wasn’t the first time, nor the second, nor the third,” Vinicius Jr. wrote in a post on his website. Twitter And Instagram accounts. “Racism is normal in the Spanish league. The competition thinks it is normal, and the federation does that too, and the opponents encourage it.” In his native Brazil, he said, Spain had become known as a “racist state”.
On Sunday, Vinicius Jr. was greeted by fans chanting the word “mono” – monkey – Even before getting off the Real Madrid bus Outside the Mestalla stadium in Valencia. The match was stopped briefly in the 71st minute as he pointed out some of his attackers to the referee, and an anti-racism statement – part of the league’s protocol for such incidents – was read to the crowd over the stadium’s loudspeakers. In the end, though, Vinicius Jr. was the villain: he was shown a red card in the final minutes of injury time after a scuffle with the opponent who accused him.
Real Madrid said it believed the abuse directed at its player Qualifies as a hate crime Under Spanish law, the club said it had lodged a complaint with the relevant authorities to demand an investigation. “We have a serious problem,” the head of the Spanish Football Federation admitted Monday, describing racism in the nation’s stadiums as “contaminating an entire team, an entire fan base, an entire country.”
The bouts of racist abuse that resonate in the stands of Spanish football stadiums are not uncommon or new, but they have become directed in particular at Vinicius Junior, who has appeared as one of the players in the league since the departure of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
In a statement announcing the investigation into Sunday’s events in Valencia, La Liga acknowledged that it had reported it Nine separate incidents of racial abuse Against Vinicius Junior in the last two seasons only. By then, the player had taken to social media, writing that the attacks on him were tarnishing Spain’s image around the world.
He wrote: “A beautiful nation welcomed me and loved me, but agreed to export the image of a racist state to the world.” “I’m sorry for the Spaniards who don’t agree, but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as the country of racists.”
He even suggested that failure to take action against racism could lead him to leave the country.
The reaction to what happened in Mestalla has led to greater scrutiny of the Spanish national team’s handling of racism on the pitch. In a television interview right after the match, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti responded incredulously when he was asked to talk about the match. He said, “I don’t want to talk about football.” “I want to talk about what happened here.”
In an ensuing press conference, local journalists attempted to correct Ancelotti’s assessment that the entire stadium was responsible, telling him he had not heard the cheering. Valencia officials then issued denials of widespread racism in the stands, although videos emerged online showing large sections of the crowd chanting “mono”. Some of Ancelloti’s correspondents suggested that the majority of supporters were actually chanting “tonto”, a word meaning silly in Spanish. Ancelotti replied, “Whether it was ‘mono’ or ‘tonto’, the referee stopped the match to open the protocol of racism.” “He wouldn’t have done it if they had just chanted ‘Tonto’. He spoke to the referee.”
Within hours, La Liga CEO Javier Tebas engaged in a tit-for-tat exchange with Vinícius Júnior on Twitter. In it, Tebas defended Spain, detailed efforts by the league to address racist behavior, and berated Vinicius for what Tebas said he failed to attend two meetings to discuss the abuse he had received.
Tebas’s statement led to an angry reaction from the player.
“Once again, instead of criticizing the racists, the president of La Liga appeared on social media to attack me,” Vinicius wrote. “As much as you talk and pretend not to read, your heroic image has been affected by this. Watch the responses to your posts and you’ll get a surprise. Deleting yourself only makes you an equal to racists.”
The incident sparked criticism and messages of support from around the world.
Speaking at a press conference at the conclusion of the G7 summit in Japan, the President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said he wanted to send a message of solidarity to Vinicius, saying that it was “unfair” that he “is being insulted in every stadium where he plays”.
“It is not possible, in the middle of the 21st century, that there is such a strong racial bias in so many football stadiums,” said Lula.
Current and former players have also rallied around Vinicius, targeting the authorities in Spain for not doing more to stamp out racism, which some commentators in the country have routinely described as simply trying to gain an advantage on the field.
Kylian Mbappe, who nearly moved to Spain last season to join Vinicius in Madrid, posted a message of support on Instagram. He was joined by Neymar, the Brazilian star who also faced racist abuse when he played in Spain with Barcelona.
Issuance of the Spanish League a permit It detailed what it described as its efforts to eradicate racism in its stadiums. The league said it was working with authorities in Valencia to investigate what happened, and vowed to take legal action if any hate crime was identified. However, it is limited in the type of penalties it can impose on clubs. Closing stadiums, for example, can only be sanctioned by the National Football League.
The latest incident will mean new scrutiny of the federation, and Spanish football, at a time when it is looking for global support to secure the rights to host the 2030 World Cup as part of a joint effort with Portugal and Morocco.
“We have a problem with behaviour, education and racism,” Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation, told a news conference on Monday. “And as long as there is one fan or one group of fans that hurls insults based on someone’s sexual orientation, skin color, or belief, we have a serious problem.”
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