Valencia bans fans who racially abused Vinicius Jr from matches for life
The racism against Vinicius in the Valencia - Real Madrid match in Spanish La Liga left a mark on the night. Spanish police launched an investigation after the incident. The fans who racially abused Vinicius Jr were banned from watching the game for life. The Brazilian player also received support from FIFA.
Real Madrid, who lost the championship in La Liga to Barcelona, lost 1-0 away to Valencia in the 35th week match. Diego Lopez scored the goal that brought 3 points to the home team in the 33rd minute.
On the night when Real Madrid closed the week without points, racism chants for Vinicius Jr. marked the night. In the 71st minute of the match, Real Madrid's Brazilian footballer Vinicius Junior stopped the game on the grounds that a fan from the Valencia stands had racially insulted him.
Vinicius Junior went towards the stands and pointed at a fan, after which referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, both teams' coaches and players got involved. The police went to the tribune and evacuated the section where the fan in question was, while the game resumed after stopping for about 10 minutes. During the stoppage of play, an announcement was made in the stadium against racism in football.
'SHAMEFUL'
Real Madrid Technical Director Carlo Ancelotti reacted harshly to the racism against his player Vinicius. Speaking at the press conference, the Italian coach said: "I don't want to talk about football, I'm very angry. What happened here today is shameful. The whole stadium shouted monkey at Vinicius."
'I TOLD HIM THAT HE WAS NOT TO BLAME'
Explaining that he spoke to Vinicius Junior after the incident, the 63-year-old coach said: "I asked him if he wanted to continue playing. I told him that he was not to blame and that he should not go. When I put a player in or take him out, I want to evaluate him according to his performance, to think tactically, to think only about that. It's very bad to think that I should take a player off because of racism."
Ancelotti also evaluated Vinicius Junior's dismissal with a red card for elbowing his opponent in the last minutes of the match and said, "Vinicius is upset because all he wants is to play football. In that position he was trying to get rid of his opponent."
VINICIUS JR STATEMENT FROM VALENCIA
In its permanent commitment against all forms of racism and violence, the Valencia club has announced that the police have identified a fan who made racist gestures towards Vincius Jr during the week 35 match against Real Madrid at Camp de Mestalla and that work is underway. The Valencia club has already opened a disciplinary file, will impose maximum sanctions on the fans involved, ban them from the stadium for life and cooperate with the police and the competent authorities to clarify what happened.
'WE STRONGLY CONDEMN'
As a club, we strongly condemn this kind of behavior, which has no place in football and society and is incompatible with the values of Valencia club and its fans. At the same time, we reaffirm our stance against racism, acting as we did in 2019, when a fan who made fascist gestures and salutes to Arsenal fans during a UEFA Europa League match was banned for life.
7 PEOPLE ARRESTED
Spanish police said on Tuesday that seven people were arrested for the incident.
The arrests took place two days after the incident.
