FIFA President Shows Support To Vinicius Jr After Racist Abuse Vs Valencia
After the ugly scenes that went down during last night’s La Liga match between Real Madrid and Valencia at the Mestalla, Vinicius Jr is gathering a wave of support from the footballing fraternity.
The Brazilian superstar, once again, was subjected to vile racist abuse by a section of the Valencia supporters on Sunday. In the aftermath, the 22-year-old has lambasted La Liga and president Javier Tebas for their continued ignorance.
Several players from Real Madrid have spoken out in support of the winger, while other notable names like Ronaldo, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe, among others, have shown solidarity via social media.
Now, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has also shown his support to the Real Madrid winger, with a statement on social media about the incident that went down last night at the Mestalla. The chief of football’s governing body wrote:
“Full solidarity to Vinicius. There is no place for racism in football or in society and FIFA stands by all players who have found themselves in such a situation. Events during the match between Valencia and Real Madrid show that this needs to be the case.”
After the match, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti had hit out at the referee for not stopping the match after being informed of the abuse that Vinicius had received.
And Infantino also stressed on FIFA’s three-step process that exists and stated that all leagues should consider taking a similar approach.
In FIFA competitions, during such situations, as a first step, the match is stopped and an announcement is made. If the verbal abuse continues, players walk off the field and another announcement is made stating that the match will be suspended.
If the attacks continue after the match is restarted, it is stopped and three points are awarded to the opponent. And Infantino advocated for all leagues to incorporate this approach even though he admitted it is easier said than done.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian government has also issued a statement on the matter, saying: “We refuse yet another racist aggression against Vinicius Jr. We will notify Spanish authorities and La Liga. We will not tolerate racism either here or outside. We’ll work so every black athlete can play without experiencing this.”
This is the umpteenth time this season that Vinicius has been racially abused by opposition fans. The winger’s effigy had also been hung off the bridge by Atletico Madrid ultras not very long ago.
But there have been no concrete actions taken by La Liga and the RFEF apart from issuing statements to ‘denounce’ the acts.
