After a racist insult, Brazilian soccer professional Vinicius Junior received a lot of solidarity from stars from his homeland and his club Real Madrid.
Brazilian football legend Pele and his compatriot Neymar von Paris Saint Germain reacted with their statements to the comments of the Spanish player’s agent Pedro Bravo, the Vinicius in the TV show “Chiringuito show“ had asked no longer “like a monkey” to behave and stop celebrating goals with dance moves.
“Football is Dance”
“Even though racism unfortunately still exists, we won’t let that stop us from continuing to smile. And we will continue to fight racism every day in this way. For our right to be happy and respected.”Pele wrote on Instagram: “Football is joy. It’s a dance.”
Vinicius reacts with his own video
22-year-old Vinicius Jr. joined from Flamengo in 2018 Rio de Janeiro to Real Madrid. In the final of Champions League 2022 against FC Liverpool he scored the goal to win 1-0.
On the night of Saturday (September 17th, 2022) he published a video on his channels in which he also addressed Bravo and announced that he would not stop dancing. Instead, he will not stop fighting racism, which has often affected him.
Counselor apologizes
Pedro Bravo, the chairman of the Spanish Football Agents’ Association (AEAF), apologized for his words on Twitter. he have have “used the phrase in a metaphorical way to mean ‘fool around'”.
The remarks struck a chord in Brazil, where black players have been met with racist taunts from fans. Superstar Neymar tweeted “BAILA VINI JR“ – Portuguese for “dance”.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBC), meanwhile, expressed its in a statement “Solidarity” with the player and condemned the “racist remarks”.
Real announces legal action
Real Madrid said they were leaning “all forms of racist and xenophobic remarks” off and will “initiate legal action”.