Association draws consequences
The Spanish Football Association has punished FC Valencia with a partial ban of fans for racism incidents against Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior. As the RFEF announced on its website, no spectators are allowed on the south stand of the Estadio Mestalla for five games. In addition, the red card for the Brazilian, which he had seen in the seventh minute of injury time for a hitting movement against Hugo Duro, was annulled.
It is considered proven that in Sunday’s game against the “Royal”, which Valencia won 1-0, there were racist abuse against Vinicius Junior, which disrupted the normal course of the game and was to be classified as a very serious offense, the reason given competition committee’s decision. In addition to the partial exclusion, a fine of 45,000 euros was imposed on FC Valencia – the club can appeal against this within ten days.
In Spain, a total of seven people were arrested on Tuesday on two different counts of hate crimes. According to official information, these included three people suspected of racially insulting Vinicius Junior on Sunday in Valencia. After an interrogation, they were released under conditions.
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Vinicius Junior accused LaLiga on Twitter of considering racism as “normal”. League boss Javier Tebas rejected this accusation and emphasized that nine racist incidents had been reported to the judiciary this season – Vinicius Junior was the victim of hostilities in eight of them. Referring to the red card in Valencia, the RFEF said referee Ricardo de Burgos sent Bengoetxea Vinicius Junior off “for hitting an opponent in the face with his arm when the ball was out of play”. However, the league now stated that the referee was not able to comprehensively assess the overall situation – Duro had previously clutched Vinicius Junior. Whether the Brazilian will join the squad for the game against Rayo Vallecano on Thursday (7:30 p.m.) is uncertain due to knee problems.
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti pointed this out at the press conference after the game (quoted via “realtotal.de’) that it was forgotten to ‘show a scene’ to the referee. Club president Florentino Pérez also reacted: “It is necessary to radically change the referee structure in our country so that the victim of the crime can never be held responsible, as is happening now.”
Demonstration in São Paulo: “This is not football, this is racism”
Meanwhile, dozens of people demonstrated in front of the Spanish consulate in São Paulo in connection with the recent racist hostilities against the 22-year-old. Participants in the demonstration in the Brazilian metropolis shouted “LaLiga racista” and called for action by the Spanish government, as the newspaper “Folha de S. Paulo” reported. Signs read “Vinicius Jr. We are with you” and “This is not football, this is racism”.
The incident quickly became political. The hostilities against Vinicius were sharply criticized by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, among others. Leading conservative politicians in Spain also condemned any kind of racism, but rejected Vinicius Junior’s accusation that Spain was now considered a “country of racists” in Brazil, among other countries. In Brazil, some media commentators and politicians have called for the Brazilian federation CBF to shelve plans to host a friendly against an as yet undecided African side in Spain in June.
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