Vinicius Jr – latest: Real Madrid racism row sees four arrests as La Liga seeks more powers to fight abuse

Vinicius Jr replied to LaLiga president Javier Tebas to give him absolutely no possible doubt how he feels about him, after Tebas tried to tell Vini his anger was misplaced:

“As much as you talk and pretend not to read, the image of your league is shaken. See the responses to your posts and have a surprise.

“Omitting yourself [from blame] only makes you equal to racists.

“I’m not your friend to talk about racism. I want actions and punishments. Hashtag doesn’t move me.

A LaLiga TV commentator has sparked outrage online by claiming Vinicius Jr “is not an angel” and that he “provokes other teams” after the Real Madrid star was sent off for his reaction to being the victim of racist abuse from the stands during a 1-0 defeat to Valencia on Sunday.

The match had been halted for 10 minutes in the second half as Vincius pointed out to the referee which fans had racially abused him. The Brazilian was later red-carded in injury time after becoming involved in a brawl with Valencia players that saw him raise his hands to the face of Hugo Duro, although he also appeared to be put in a headlock by the Valencia forward.

Covering the game for LaLiga TV, co-commentator Toni Padilla said that while it’s important to stand against racism, Vinicius should not be free from blame for the sending off as he’s “not a saint” and often provokes both the opposition and their fans.

“It’s the worst that could happen,” said Padilla as Vinicius was shown red. “Because the player that hits out and you say ‘that’s a red card always’ is also the player that suffered some verbal abuse.

“We should stand with Vini Jr if he suffered racial abuse but it’s never justified that he hits Hugo Duro. It’s Vini’s mistake. It’s not a question of who’s the bad one. Look at Vini Jr [as he walks off the pitch gesturing to the Valencia fans] - you are going to second division.

“We should stand against racism always but we should also say that Vini Jr is not an angel, he’s not perfect. Sometimes he provokes the other teams. Every time he’s suffering verbal abuse, we should stand against racism and we should stand with Vini Jr. But also we cannot say he’s a saint.”

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Running somewhat contrary to the rest of the planet, Valencian newspaper Superdeporte offers the following:

“There’s a campaign from Madrid in a season where Valencia and their fans have already been the victims of referees and extremely unjust decisions and they want respect for the Mestalla. Vinicius responded with another lack of respect. The club requires the maximum respect for its fans for their exemplary behaviour on Sunday in the Mestalla.”

Continuing, the article by Andres Garcia says: “At the same time, [the club] condones energetically the Valencia fans who shouted racist insults to Vinicius from one of the stadium stands. They are perfectly compatible, which the Madrid-based media don’t want to understand.”

Former Man City and England defender Micah Richards has labelled LaLiga boss Javier Tebas “embarrassing” for his attempts to portray Vinicius Jr as being in the wrong after he criticised the league over its lack of action regarding incidents of racism.

Replying to the Real Madrid forward saying “in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists” on social media, Tebas - president of Spain’s top flight - responded with a tweet of his own saying “before criticising LaLiga, you need to be well-informed yourself, Vinicius. Don’t let yourself manipulate and make sure you understand properly...the work we are doing together.”

But Richards says this deflection merely highlights the problem people suffering racist abuse have to deal with, including being told they are aiming their anger in the wrong direction.

“Javier [Tebas] has tried to make himself the victim in all this, it’s absolutely embarrassing what he has come out with in his statement,” Richards told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.

“It makes my blood boil and that is part of the problem. It’s not just a football issue, it’s a life that people go through every single day.

“People don’t care enough and that is the problem. If people cared they would do something about it.

“It’s not about taking the knee or wearing Kick it Out shirts because it’s not working. I’m tired of having to talk about the same things that happens over and over again. We have spoken enough. The people who need to sort themselves out are the ones who are being racist. Until harsher punishments are delivered it’s always going to be the same.

“If Javier thinks like that, what chance do we have?”

Annexed to their statement, LaLiga have also included details of no fewer than 13 cases referred to Spanish courts and their current status - nine of them involving Vinicius Jr.

The other players to have received racist abuse are Inaki Williams, Nico Williams (both Athletic Club), Samu Chukwueze (Villarreal) and Carlos Akapo (then Cadiz).

Theses cases range from January 2020 to the present day and they are in varying stages of judicial process, with the case of Inaki Williams awaiting a trial date for example and Akapo set to testify “in the near future”.

A statement from LaLiga presented this morning to UK media:

LaLiga will request more sanctioning powers, with the aim of being more agile and effective in the fight against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport, where LaLiga has been leading the identification and reporting of such behaviour in football stadiums for years, but feels powerless when observing how its reporting ends.

Despite its intense and continuous fight against violence and racism to the full extent of its powers (currently, according to Spanish legislation, limited to identifying and reporting the facts that occur), LaLiga feels tremendous frustration at the lack of sanctions and convictions by the sports disciplinary bodies, public administrations and jurisdictional bodies to which it reports.

Faced with this serious situation, in the coming days LaLiga will formally request the amendment of Law 19/2007 of July 11, against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport and Law 39/2022 of December 30, on sport.

The purpose of the proposal is to request that LaLiga may exercise disciplinary authority over incidents of this type which occur in matches of the professional competition, so that the disciplinary bodies of LaLiga may proceed to sanction them, among otherthings, with the total or partial closure ofthe sports venue, the prohibition of access to it in the case of members/fans and the imposition of financial penalties, without prejudice to the adoption of provisional or precautionary measures that may be appropriate, depending on the nature and seriousness of the incidents.

As we have been repeating in recent days, LaLiga has been leading the fight against violence, racism and intolerance on football pitches, both inside and outside the stadium, identifying such behaviour through its Match Directors, security officers and television cameras, and subsequently reporting it to the relevant bodies.

Valencia’s sponsors Puma offered their support for Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr after he was racially abused during their LaLiga match in Spain on Sunday.

Vinicius called LaLiga and Spain “racist” after receiving racial slurs from fans in Sunday’s game at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium.

The Brazil forward pointed out the fans who were insulting him, leading to the match being paused for 10 minutes, and then got into an altercation with Valencia’s players which led to him being sent off in the second half. Real lost the game 1-0.

“At PUMA, we do not tolerate racism, we condemn discrimination in any form and stand in solidarity with Vinicius Junior and the wider football community in condemning events yesterday,” Puma, who sponsor both Valencia and LaLiga, said in a statement to Reuters.

Spanish bank Santander, whose title sponsorship with LaLiga ends after this season, also voiced their support.

“Santander strongly rejects all racism and discrimination in whatever form it takes,” it said in a statement.

Real Madrid have filed an official complaint to the Spanish attorney general’s office after one of its players suffered racial abuse during a match.

Vinicius Jr was abused during Sunday night’s defeat to Valencia at the Mestalla stadium, halting the game temporarily to draw the officials’ attention to a section of supporters.

The 22-year-old was later sent off after a clash with Hugo Duro, and afterwards accused La Liga of not doing enough to fight racism, describing Spain as a “country of racists”.

His club has now released an official statement confirming that they have referred what they consider a “hate crime” to the authorities.

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Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has joined football clubs and players in coming out to support star striker Vinícius Júnior after he once more faced racist abuse in a Spanish league match on Sunday.

The latest incident took place in Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss at Valencia, a match that had to be temporarily stopped after the Brazil forward said he was insulted by a fan behind one of the goals at Mestalla Stadium.

Valencia fans were filmed making monkey chants toward Vinícius, who is Black.

Lula told a news conference in Japan on the sidelines of a G7 meeting that he hopes FIFA, the Spanish League and other soccer bodies “take measures so we don’t allow racism and fascism to take over” in the sport.

“It is not fair that a poor boy who is winning in his life, becoming one of the best in the world, certainly the best at Real Madrid, is insulted in every stadium he goes to,” Lula said. Several of his cabinet ministers also backed Vinicius and were critical of the Spanish league.

Spanish soccer has a racism problem, its football federation chief Luis Rubiales said on Monday, echoing criticism by Brazil after Real Madrid lodged a race crime complaint following insults hurled at their Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr.

The top-flight LaLiga is under pressure to do more to combat racism after the Brazilian president, FIFA and fellow sporting stars such as France forward Kylian Mbappe, Rio Ferdinand and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton voiced support for Vinicius.

In a social media post, Vinicius Jr. called racist abuse “inhuman” and asked sponsors and broadcasters to hold LaLiga accountable.

“What is missing to criminalize these people? And punish the clubs sportively? Why don’t the sponsors charge LaLiga? Don’t the televisions bother to broadcast this barbarity every weekend?” Vinicius said.

The statement came a day after the match against Valencia at the Mestalla stadium was stopped for 10 minutes after the 22-year-old Brazilian striker pointed out fans who he said were hurling racist comments at him.

“The problem is very serious, and press releases don’t work anymore. Neither does blaming me to justify criminal acts,” he added.

Vinicius, Real Madrid’s second top scorer this season in all competitions (23) behind Karim Benzema (29), had previously described Spain as a “country of racists” after the match against Valencia on Sunday.

That provoked a response from LaLiga President Javier Tebas, who said on Twitter that enough was being done and that Vinicius should inform himself “before you criticise and slander LaLiga”.

“The first thing is to recognise that we have a problem in our country,” Rubiales said at a press conference in Madrid on Monday. It is “a serious problem that also stains an entire team, an entire fan base, an entire club, an entire country”.