The incident surrounding Vinícius Júnior, who was treated racist on Sunday evening during the match between Valencia and Real Madrid (1-0), is still echoing in Spain. The Brazilian striker of the Royal came on Monday with a tough statement on his social channels, to which Javier Tebas responded. The boss of LaLiga was not pleased with Vinícius’ words and that came under heavy criticism.
During the game in Mestalla, there was a group of fans who constantly insulted Vinícius through a megaphone. Later in the match, the Brazilian winger also got involved in a scuffle and was shown a red card. The day after the hectic match in Valencia, Vinícius reported on his social channels. “It wasn’t the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in LaLiga. The teams think it’s normal, the association too and the opponents encourage it. I’m very sorry. The league that once belonged to Ronaldinho , Ronaldo, Cristiano and Messi belongs to racists today.”
Não foi a primeira vez, nem a segunda e nem a terceira. Oh racismo é o normal after La Liga. A competição acha normal, a Federação também e os adversários incentivam. Lamento muito. O campeonato que já foi de Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano e Messi hoje é dos racists. Uma nacao…
— Vin Jr. (@vinijr) May 21, 2023
Those words went down the wrong way with Tebas. The boss of LaLiga, the organization that organizes the competition, does not believe that there is systematic racism. “It is unfair to say that Spain and LaLiga are racist. We fight racism in the toughest way and have made nine reports of racism this season, eight of them against Vinícius. We identify the idiots responsible and hand over all reports to the Racism is an extremely rare occurrence in our league and we want to eliminate it, but we must not allow the league’s reputation to be tarnished.”
On the internet Tebas’ words lead to a lot of commotion. Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish federation, is also not happy with his colleague’s words. “This goes way beyond football, because in our country there is just a problem with behavior, education and racism. Even if it is just one person who is insulted based on skin color, we already have a big problem. I hope everyone ignores the irresponsible words of the president of LaLiga. He addresses social media to a footballer who has recently been treated racist. We board members do not agree with that in the least. “
1. Neither Spain nor @LaLiga is racist, it is unfair to say this. 2. At @LaLiga we report and go after racism in the strongest possible way within our remit. 3. We have reported nine instances of racist insults this season (eight have been against @vinijr). We always identify… https://t.co/KFXHOJv6cb
— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) May 22, 2023