Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the racist slurs against Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior during the game against Valencia and called on the authorities to take action.
“I want to express my solidarity with Vinicius, a young man who is undoubtedly the best player in Real Madrid and has been attacked on numerous occasions. I hope that FIFA and other organizations will take action to prevent the spread of racism in football,” he said. Lula, on Sunday, in a post on the social network Twitter.
Vinicius slammed La Liga and Spanish football fans for “general racism” in the competition after racist slurs marred a clash against Valencia’s Clube de Futebol Mestalla when the Brazilian player refused to play in a match Real Madrid lost 1-0 .
“It was not the first time, not the second and not the third. Racism is normal in La Liga. The competition considers it normal, the Federation considers it normal, and the competitors encourage it. I’m sorry about that. Cristiano and Messi today [segunda-feira] belongs to the racists,” wrote the player on Twitter.
“A wonderful nation that welcomed me and that I love, but that agreed to export to the world the image of a racist country. I feel sorry for the Spaniards who do not agree, but today [segunda-feira]in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists,” he added.
Association President Javier Tebas reacted and asked the footballer not to be “manipulated”: “Before you criticize and insult La Liga, you must be well informed, Vinicius (…) Do not allow yourself to be manipulated and make sure you understand each other’s skills and work that we do together.”
Vinicius continued his social media messaging, responding to a message from Tebas asking for “action and punishment”. “Once again, instead of criticizing the racists, the President of La Liga appears on social networks to attack me. No matter how much you talk and pretend not to read, the image of your championship will be shaken, ”said the footballer.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said he was “saddened” by the “racist reaction” of Valencia fans to guest Vinicius, a “very serious and unacceptable problem” in Spanish football, and called for drastic action.
“I talked to him during the game, the atmosphere was very hot, very bad, and I asked him if I could continue. The fact that I think I should remove it because the atmosphere is racist doesn’t seem right to me. happened to me today [segunda-feira] never happened to me before. This is unacceptable. The Spanish league has a problem, it’s not Vinicius, he’s the victim of a very serious problem.”
La Liga requested all available images to initiate an investigation, stating that “once the investigation is completed, if any hate crime is discovered, La Liga will take appropriate legal action.”
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.