Accompanied by emotional statements of solidarity for star striker Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid has at least temporarily improved to second place in the Spanish league.
The team led by Toni Kroos won 2-1 (1-0) against Rayo Vallecano on the third-to-last matchday, initially overtaking city rivals Atlético Madrid. The focus was on Vinicius, who was racially insulted again on Sunday.
Now the fans in the Bernabeu stadium hung up a huge banner with the inscription “We are all Vinicius, that’s enough”, the Real and Rayo players also showed a banner: “Racists out of football”.
In addition, all Madrilenians wore the jersey of the 22-year-old Brazilian, who was sitting next to club boss Florentino Perez in the honorary stand, before kick-off.
The red card for Vinicius from the scandal game at FC Valencia was canceled, but the 22-year-old was missing due to knee problems. And was always celebrated with “Vini, Vini” chants.
Vinicius saw a mandatory win for his team, Karim Benzema (31st) and Rodrygo (89th) scored for Madrid. Raul de Tomas (84th) had equalized in the meantime. Atlético had the chance to overtake Real again in the evening at Espanyol Barcelona.
Villarreal still hopes for the Champions League
In addition, former Bundesliga goalkeeper Pepe Reina still has hopes of qualifying for the Champions League after winning his 1000th competitive game as a professional.
With FC Villarreal, the 40-year-old won 2-0 (2-0) against FC Cadiz on Wednesday evening, reducing the gap to fourth-placed Real Sociedad San Sebastian to five points.
Reina played three games for FC Bayern in the 2014/2015 season.