Welcome to Africanews

Please select your experience

Watch Live

Sport

sport

Vinicius Jr. criticises La Liga following racist abuse at Valencia

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior, left, confronts Valencia fans in front of Valencia's Jose Luis Gaya during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valencia and Real Madrid   -  
Copyright © africanews
Alberto Saiz/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved

Spain

Vinicius Jr. has criticised La Liga - and it's president Javier Tebas - on social media after he was racially abused and shown a red card during Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Valencia.

The Brazil international posted on Twitter after the match: "It wasn't the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga. The competition thinks it's normal, the federation does too and the opponents encourage it."

La Liga chief Javier Tebas replied with a Tweet saying: "Before criticising and insulting La Liga, you need to inform yourself properly Vinícius," to which the Real star responded: “Once again, instead of criticising racists, the president of La Liga appears on social media to attack me."

Vinicius stopped Sunday's match at one point to point out those in the crowd who he believed had been racially abusing him, before being ushered away by team-mates and spoken to by referee Ricardo de Burgos.

A fracas between the two sets of players deep into added time resulted in Vinicius being sent off in a La Liga game for the first time in his career, but Real head coach Carlo Ancelotti came out in full defence of his striker after the match: "The Spanish league has a problem and it's not Vinicius. Vinicius is the victim. The problem is very grave."

View more