Valencia is not happy with the statement that Vinícius Júnior made in court on Thursday. The Real Madrid attacker was racially treated by some of the Valencia supporters on May 21. The Brazilian stated in court that he was treated racist by the entire stadium and that went down the wrong way with Valencia.
In May this year things went completely wrong at the Estádio Mestalla. Vinícius was repeatedly treated racist by some of Valencia’s supporters. After a collision with Giorgi Mamardashvili and Hugo Duro, Vinicius, who was barely in control of his emotions, also received a red card in injury time. After the match, which Valencia won 2-1, it was almost exclusively about the racist treatment towards Vinícius.
During the court hearing, Vinícius presented evidence from three people charged with racism. The judge also called on Éder Militão, Vinícius’ teammate, to provide an eyewitness statement about the events. Valencia managed to identify the three accused soon after the infamous match.
“Following the published information regarding the statement made by Vinícius Jr. in court, stating that the entire Mestalla Stadium hurled racist insults at him during the match between Valencia and Real Madrid last season, the club would like to expressing surprise, rejection and outrage,” Valencia begins the statement.
“As coach Carlo Ancelotti himself publicly acknowledged, the behavior cannot under any circumstances be generalized to the entire Mestalla Stadium.” Ancelotti was white hot after the match in Valencia. “It’s not one person calling him a ‘monkey’, the whole stadium was racist towards him. I’ve never heard an entire stadium shouting ‘monkey, monkey, monkey’ at someone.” Later, Ancelotti apologized for generalizing the Valencia fans.
“The club is aware of the seriousness of this matter,” Valencia continued in its statement. “Racism has no place in football or in society, but it cannot be fought with fallacies or baseless lies. This issue requires the involvement of everyone and Valencia understands that it must act conscientiously, accurately and responsibly in these types of expressions.”
“Valencia fans cannot be classified as racist and Valencia demands that Vinícius Jr. publicly correct his statement this morning.”