Vinicius Junior says he was racially abused and has video evidence.
Real Madrid lost 0-1 to Valencia in the 35th round of the 2022-23 Spanish La Liga season at the Estadio de Mestalla in Valencia, Spain, at 4:00 a.m. ET on April 22. The result leaves Real in third place with 22 wins, five draws and eight losses (71 points).
On this day, Vinicius was heavily booked and fouled, and in the midst of a series of harsh fouls, he was provoked by the Valencia crowd. It wasn’t just taunts, it was racist taunts and trash being thrown. Vinicius became extremely agitated and an argument ensued for some time.
According to Spanish multiple media outlets, Valencia fans shouted “You monkey!” and “Die, Vinicius!” at him. In response, Vinicius was reduced to tears. The chants were clearly racist.
Vinicius took to social media after the match to say, “It’s not the first time, it’s not the second time, it’s not the third time. Racism is common in Spanish La Liga. The federation even encourages it. The league that once hosted Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi is now home to racists. There is no way to fight racism every week. I will fight racists until the end,” he wrote.
On the 23rd, he wrote an additional post. “The proof is in the video,” Vinicius wrote. What is lacking to criminalize these people? Why aren’t sponsors charging La Liga? Why aren’t televisions broadcasting this barbarism?” he wrote.
He continued, “This is not soccer. It’s inhumane,” he added, accompanied by a video. The video shows the Valencia crowd chanting “monkeys” over and over again. It happened in other matches as well. In September 2022, Atletico Madrid fans chanted “Vinicius is a monkey” and in December 2022, Valladolid fans chanted “stupid niggers”. In addition, in February 2023, Mallorca fans chanted “Go eat a banana” and in March 2023, Barcelona fans chanted “Die Vinicius”.
Meanwhile, Real added: “The club strongly reacts and condemns what happened to Vinicius. (Racism) This incident is a direct attack on our rule of law and democratic state. The club considers this attack to be a hate crime and has filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office to demand an investigation and accountability for racism.”
Valencia added: “We strongly condemn any behavior that is not in line with our values. We are against racism and violence in all its forms. The club has identified the fan who made the racist gesture towards Vinicius and is carrying out the procedure. We must be clear about swift and strong action. Valencia has already started the disciplinary process. We will ban the fans involved in the racism from the stadium for life and we will work with the police to establish what happened.” 안전놀이터