Vinicius was once again the target of racist insults by a group of Atletico Madrid fans, ahead of the Champions League match against Inter Milan, and also by FC Barcelona before facing Napoli, in the same competition. This was seen in videos circulating on social media, prompting a complaint from Real Madrid to the authorities, as announced by the club in a statement today.
“Real Madrid has filed a complaint with the General State Prosecutor’s Office for hate crimes and discrimination, for the racist and hateful insults directed towards our player Vinicius in the vicinity of the Montjuic Olympic Stadium and the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid before the FC Barcelona-Napoli and Atletico Madrid-Inter Milan matches, of the Champions League,” the institution expressed.
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The club requested that the Prosecutor’s Office obtain the existing recordings at both locations “in order to identify the authors of these racist and hateful insults,” in addition to expressing its “condemnation of these violent attacks of racism, discrimination, and hatred that have been occurring, unfortunately repeatedly, against our player Vinicius Junior.”
The government of Brazil supports Vini: “He is not alone in his fight”
The winger also received support from the Brazilian government. “It’s incredible that in the second decade of the 21st century this kind of behavior still exists. All our solidarity to Vini Jr. He deserves all respect and admiration for his talent and competence, not these manifestations of racist barbarism,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pointed out in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The Executive also released a statement expressing that “Vinicius is an exemplary athlete, and he is not alone in his brave fight against racism. The Brazilian government will reiterate to the Spanish government and sports authorities its concern over the repeated racist attacks against the athlete.”
“It will also demand actions from UEFA, the organizer of the tournament where the racist incidents took place. Until there are appropriate criminal and sporting sanctions, racists will continue to act, and no campaign against racism will yield effective results,” he added.
The official text highlighted that Brazilian football “has become an instrument of inclusion and promotion of historically less privileged sectors” of society and has allowed “the world to know the richness of Brazilian diversity.”
“Vinicius Junior, from Real Madrid and the Brazilian National Team, honors our best sporting traditions, whose ultimate expression will always be the greatest player in the history of world football, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, King Pelé, who passed away in December 2022,” he expressed.
