One of the hottest players today, valued at more than 100 million euros (R$ 577.5 million), holder of the club that won the Champions League the most (14) times, Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior has suffered from racist attacks in Spain.
The most recent took place in the match on Friday (30), against Valladolid, for the Spanish Championship, when Real played as a visitor and won by 2-0.
Reports say that videos on social networks showed Vini Jr. being insulted, with offenses related to the color of his skin, when passing close to the Valladolid crowd when being substituted at the end of the second half.
Aware of the fact, the command of LaLiga, which controls the elite division of Espanyol, declared that it is taking measures in this regard.
“LaLiga has filed formal complaints with the competent judicial, administrative and sporting bodies regarding the racist insults against the player Vinicius Junior during the match between Real Valladolid and Real Madrid in the last round,” the organization said in a statement.
“A criminal complaint for hate crimes”, continued the text, “was presented to the Valladolid court, accompanied by the audiovisual evidence collected in the investigation, which was carried out with sound and images published in open sources.”
“At the same time, a complaint was filed with the RFEF Competition Committee and the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport,” concluded LaLiga.
LaLiga’s procedure is correct, however, based on previous events, it is very difficult to believe that the Spanish authorities will take any action.
After all, this is the fourth time that the Brazilian striker faces this hateful situation and so far nothing has been done to punish anyone.
Vini Jr. had spoken out about racist attacks by rival fans in 2021, against Barcelona, and in 2022, against Mallorca and Atlético de Madrid.
Despite complaints having been made, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the European country decided not to proceed with the investigations, filing the occurrences.
In the incident before the match against Atlético, when fans were filmed uttering racist chants against Vini Jr. outside the stadium, prosecutors stated that the words, “unpleasant” and “disrespectful”, lasted “only a few seconds”, not constituting a criminal offence.
This position is unacceptable. Inaction encourages the continuation of racial hatred, not only in stadiums but in society. There is a solution to combat the problem, but the will to do so is necessary.
Is it not possible, with the images of the videos, to identify those responsible for racial insults and stop them? That in subsequent matches there will be police infiltrated in the opposing crowds, when Vini Jr. is on the scene, so that they are made flagrant.
Disappointed with the lack of effective action against the racism he has been a victim of, the left winger wrote on a social network that he will continue “with his head held high and celebrating my victories and those of Madrid”.
“In the end, it’s MY fault”, ironically declared the 22-year-old Brazilian, who was in the starting line-up for the Brazilian national team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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