Fans of Atlético Madrid have been guilty of racist songs against Vinícius Júnior. The Real Madrid attacker played the city derby against Atlético with his club on Sunday (1-2 victory), but the day after the game, the racism against the Brazilian remains. The sad incident follows the statements of Pedro Bravo, president of the Spanish Football Agents’ Association, who said that ‘Vinícius must stop acting like a monkey’. Atlético has not yet commented on the incidents surrounding its own stadium.
radio station Cadena COPE published images of the singing of the supporters of the home team in the video below. Already when entering the Wanda Metropolitano, hundreds of supporters sang of los Rojiblancos about the attacker: ‘Vinícius, you are a monkey, you are a monkey’. In addition, monkey noises were heard from the stands during the Brazilian’s first contact with the ball. When Vinícius then tried to use a trick, ‘dummerik’ was shouted from the stands. In addition, after Rodrygo’s opening goal, objects were thrown at the celebrating players.
???CÁNTICOS RACISTAS CONTRA VINICIUS de cientos de aficionados del @Athletic a las puertas del metropolitan:
“Eres un mono, Vinicius eres un mono”.
??FUERA LOS VIOLENTOS Y RACISTAS DEL FÚTBOL
??Video @chema_medina #AtletiRealMadrid pic.twitter.com/KoHSNrtd3G
— Tiempo de Juego (@tjcope) September 18, 2022
The theme of ‘racism’ was in the spotlight this week in Spain, after Bravo was heavily criticized for saying he was disturbed by the way Vinicius celebrates his goals. “If he wants to dance the samba, he should go to the Sambódromo (a stadium where carnival is celebrated, ed.) in Rio. Here you have to respect your fellow players and stop acting like a monkey.” Bravo said he regretted his statements after the controversy, and Vinícius posted a video message on Instagram to speak out against racism.
Vinícius has been fighting xenophobia and racism together with compatriots such as Raphinha, Pelé and Neymar for years and was therefore forced to respond to Bravo. “As long as the color of the skin is more important than the brightness of the eyes, there will be war. I have that sentence tattooed on my body. I have that thought permanently in my head. That is the attitude and the philosophy I have in my try to put life into practice. They say happiness bothers you. The happiness of a victorious black Brazilian in Europe bothers much more.” In the game against Atlético, however, his message seemed to backfire. Although the monkey noises were not heard throughout the game, Vinícius was whistled regularly. Atlético has not yet commented on the incident after the game, but the club of trainer Diego Simeone called for ‘encourage Atléti with passion and show respect to the rival’ before the game.