MOSCOW, May 21. The head coach of the football club «Real» Carlo Ancelotti, after the match with Valencia, whose fans insulted the striker of Madrid Vinicius Junior, said that there are very serious problems with racism in La Liga.
Real Madrid lost 0-1 to Valencia on Sunday in the match of the 35th round of the championship of Spain. In the middle of the second half, the game was interrupted due to racist insults coming from the stands against Vinicius. The forward pointed to a fan who, in his opinion, insulted him, after which the players reported the incident to the referee. In the 97th minute, Vinicius was sent off for hitting the hosts striker Hugo Duro.
«This is unacceptable. The league has a problem with racism. And the problem is not with Vinicius. Vinicius is a victim. There is a very serious problem,» AFP quoted Ancelotti as saying. «I asked Vinicius if he wanted to continue the game and he wanted to continue. The referee said me that he should continue too, that he would apply the protocol if this happened again. It happened again, because when he sent Vinicius off, the whole stadium was singing: «Monkey, monkey. This can't go on… I'm very sad.»
Spanish Football Championship21 May 2023 • Start at 19:30End
ValenciaSpain1 : 0
Real MadridSpain
33' • Diego Lopez
According to Ancelotti, Valencia fans called Vinicius «mono», which is Spanish means monkey. A journalist at a press conference opined that the audience was shouting «tonto», which means «feeble-minded».
«Why do you think the referee stopped the match? Because the audience shouted 'idiot' to Vinicius? No. The referee interrupted the match because he opened the protocol on racism,» the Italian said.
Earlier in the course of the season, Vinicius in Spain was repeatedly subjected to racial slurs during matches with various clubs. In January, a group of Atlético fans placed a hanging statue of Vinicius on a bridge ahead of the Copa del Rey match.