Spain’s top-tier Football league La Liga came under major scrutiny when Real Madrid’s winger Vinicius Jr was racially abused during a league tie against Valencia CF away at the Mestalla stadium. The game had to be stopped for at least 10 minutes when Vinicius reported the issue to the referee.
In a video, the Brazilian can be seen halting the play in the 70th minute to confront a sect of Valenica fans who called him a Monkey. In another video, the entire stadium excluding Real Madrid supporters, threw even more derogatory chants towards the player and the harsh truth is that La Liga as an administration doesn’t care about these things.
Vinicius Jr got racially abused, fouled, choked by the opposition & ended up being the ONLY one sent off…
Anyone trying to put ‘context’ into the racism Vini Jr. received is a disgrace.
NOTHING JUSTIFIES RACISM 🤬
You will always have our support ❤️#ViniciusJr #NoToRacism pic.twitter.com/glO9eIEnRC— Tee 🔴 (@Tee025s) May 22, 2023
Spanish football federation Chief Luis Rubiales admitted to this underlying issue which has hindered La Liga’s image time in time out. And this wasn’t even for the first time that an episode of Racism took place against Vinicius Jr. A season ago, Atletico Madrid players threatened Vini Jr. of beating him if he dances after scoring in September 2022.
“The first thing is to recognise that we have a problem in our country. It is a serious problem that also stains an entire team, an entire fan base, an entire club, an entire country.” – Rubiales said.
Is LaLiga sponsoring racists?
The opponent str@ngled Vinicius Jr for this long but Vini was given the red card for self defense 😡. pic.twitter.com/geHq5cy8gU
— Captainjosy (@Captainjossy) May 23, 2023
In that match, Atleti fans were heard shouting “You are a Monkey and Stupid” chants to Vinicius Jr as Real Madrid had won by 2-1.
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But the latest incident suggests that fans in Spain are not afraid of doing Racism to foreign players in their country. Even though the league produces top quality football and footballers, its problem with Racism has only tarnished their outlook.
In fact Spanish clubs are a dominant force in the European circuit. Real Madrid (the most successful UCL outfit) are 14-time UCL winners, FC Barcelona are 5-time UCL winners, Sevilla are the most successful in Europa League with 6 titles.
But the players face Racism on the daily. Vinicius Jr in his recent Instagram post said exactly that. “I am sorry for those Spaniards who disagree but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists.” – wrote Vinicius on Racism’s impact in Spain.
