22-year-old Real Madrid player Vinicius Junior has been racially abused multiple times inside a Spanish football stadium, and he is now facing death threats. So it is little wonder he has suggested he could leave Spain to play elsewhere.
There have been several outrageous claims that Vinicius provokes abuse by how he behaves on the pitch. However, on Sunday, the abuse started a long time, even before a ball was kicked. There were choruses of 'Vinicius is a monkey' when he got off the team bus at Mestalla.
These incidents went back to October 2021, when Vinicius was racially abused in Barcelona. Even after La Liga reported the incident, those responsible were never properly identified, despite 60-plus cameras at the stadium.
On Sunday, after the monkey noises episode, Vicinius did not wait for the authorities' attempts at identifying the culprits. He took to pointing out the racist individuals to stewards.
'You, you’re the one who called me a monkey,” he seemed to be saying as players from both sides gathered on the scene. He called on the referee to come over and made a gesture as if to say they’d been calling him a monkey or making monkey noises towards him.
The words he posted on social media after another shocking, deep, and saddening episode in the story of Spanish football’s racism issue on Sunday night. He wrote: “I am strong, and I will go all the way against the racists. Even if it’s far from here.”
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The Athletic contacted one of Vinicius Jr’s staff, asking if this meant that he was contemplating an exit from La Liga and Madrid. The Source, who asked not to be named to protect his position, replied: “Yes. When you have to fight on your own…”
If Vinicius Jr decides he wants to leave Madrid due to the constant racist abuse he suffers and the lack of support he receives, Spanish football will lose one of its brightest talents, and it would be a huge blow for the Bernabeu club. La Liga would be hugely disappointed, and it would be a shame for Spanish society. However, no one should blame the player, given how he has been left alone to suffer for two years now.
Adding in an Instagram post on Monday, he revealed that what he is experiencing “is not football, rather, it’s inhuman”.
Vicinius himself said: Sunday night “wasn’t the first time, nor the second, or the third.”
La Liga Files Charges Relating To Vicinius To Eradicate Racism
La Liga Revealed that it had “requested all available images to investigate exactly what took place” and that it would “take the appropriate legal action if any hate crime is identified.”
Since October 2021, it has done so already ten times in cases involving Vinicius Jr at La Liga matches. And only two cases of these have led to punishments such as fines or stadium bans for individual fans. While four cases remain open.