Vinicius Jr claims LaLiga ‘belongs to the racists’ as he suffers abuse AGAIN during Real Madrid’s loss to Valencia – moments before being sent off for hitting Hugo Duro – as Rio Ferdinand pleads with football’s biggest stars to ‘take a stand’
Vinicius Jr was sent off during Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat by Valencia on Sunday evening after he was subjected to discriminatory comments from spectators, with Rio Ferdinand slamming LaLiga authorities for failing to protect the forward.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side went a goal down ten minutes before half time, with Diego Lopez tapping in a well-worked move from the home side.
Madrid then pressed late on in a bid to score an equaliser, but the game was paused for several minutes after the winger claimed to receive racist abuse from spectators sitting behind the goal.
The 22-year-old, who joined the club in 2018 from Brazilian side Flamengo, has been subjected to racial abuse multiple times this season and has previously expressed his frustrations towards LaLiga authorities at their lack of action to stamp out the discrimination.
The game was paused and the referee came to speak to the fourth official and coaches on the touchline, before play was resumed again.
The winger received a red card for allegedly striking an opponent after a mele, amidst racial abuse from the crowd. The player expressed frustration on Instagram, highlighting racism in La Liga and criticizing the lack of action. Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand condemned the authorities’ failure to protect Vinicius Jr. and called for unity among players. This incident adds to the player’s history of racial abuse. Manager Carlo Ancelotti emphasized the seriousness of the issue, stating that racism should not be tolerated in the league. LaLiga previously filed complaints about racial abuse towards Vinicius Jr., indicating a persistent problem.
In a statement, the league’s governing body condemned the racist abuse towards Vinicius Jr as ‘intolerable’.
It read: ‘In view of the events that took place at the FC Barcelona-Real Madrid match, in which intolerable racist behaviour was once again observed against Vinicius Jr, LaLiga has reported the racist insults to the Barcelona Court of Instruction.
‘This is the eighth complaint filed by LaLiga with the corresponding authorities for racist abuse against Vinicius Jr.’
The winger has scored 23 times in 53 games across all competitions for the Spanish giants.
