Vinicius Jr targeted by racist insults in Valencia

Too often, racialized soccer players are targeted by opposing fans. It happened again on Sunday when Vinicius Jr was taken to task in Valencia.

In a 1-0 loss to Real Madrid, the Brazilian striker was repeatedly targeted by Valencia supporters who descended into racism.

He was initially called an idiot, which created a crowd and caused a rather long interruption of the match. He was also called a monkey by at least one supporter.

But in an emotional outburst after the match, his coach, Carlo Ancelotti, claimed that “it was the whole stadium that was treating a player like a monkey.”

“There is no need for a coach to consider withdrawing his player for this reason, I told him he was not the culprit, but the victim .

“We have a problem because in my eyes Vinicius is the strongest player in the world. La Liga has a problem and in a situation like that, we have to stop the game,” insisted Ancelotti.

Controversial

The situation is fueling controversy in Spain. In the Valencian camp, we apologize to Ancelotti who maintained that his player was always insulted in this stadium.

“The Valencian public is exemplary,” said local head coach Ruben Bajara. Certain gestures of Vinicius were also reprehensible”, he mentioned, suggesting that the Brazilian had provoked the crowd.

But the Valencian daily Super Deporte added a layer of it on Monday with a front page that headlined “Ancelotti does not lie, Vinicius does not provoke”.

What’s more, the newspaper reports that around 100 supporters were outside the stadium when the Real Madrid bus arrived on Sunday and chanted “Vinicius, you’re a monkey”.

Attitude

Some of the Spanish fans claim that Vinicius is the architect of his own misfortune by his gestures of temper, his constant complaints to the referee and his gestures of provocation.

However, he responded to this thesis by posting on his social networks a montage of all the racist insults he has suffered for two years.

On Monday, Valencia CF showed openness by assuring that they would ban supporters found guilty of racist behavior towards Vinicius for life.

It appears that the Spanish police have already identified at least one individual and that others could follow. Real Madrid has filed a hate crime complaint. The Association of Spanish Professional Footballers and the Movement Against Intolerance have also filed a joint complaint.

A problem

The situation illustrates a fundamental problem that undermines Spanish soccer and the Spanish Football Federation acknowledged this during a crisis press conference.

“There is a problem of behavior, education and racism that taints all of Spanish football and an entire country,” said FA president Luis Rubiales.

The President of the Movement against Intolerance, Esteban Ibarra, for his part deplored the inaction of the competent authorities.

“Nobody acts,” he laments. Often there are no sanctions or they are not applied and the cases are unfinished, supposedly for lack of evidence or because they cannot identify the individuals. The reality is that since COVID racist behavior has increased in football. The authorities are ineffective because they never apply the law rigorously.”