Vinícius: Arrest made, red card upturned, Valencia fined and told to close stand
The Spanish football federation has also fined Valencia about £39,000 over the incident that marred the game.
Valencia have been ordered to temporarily close the stand from where Real Madrid’s Brazil striker Vinícius Jr was racially abused on Sunday.
The Spanish football federation has also fined Valencia about £39,000 over the incident that marred the game.
The Mario Kempes stand, where the chants targeting the Real forward came from as Valencia won 1-0, will be closed for five games — their one remaining home game this season and the first four matches of next season. The stand, which is behind one of the goals at the Mestalla, is where the club’s more hardcore fans are usually located.
The federation also ordered that Vinícius’s red card, issued in the closing moments of the match after an altercation with Valencia players, be overturned.
Before the game, Valencia fans chanted in Spanish, “Vinícius, you’re a monkey”, as Real’s players got off the team bus. During the match, Vinícius then confronted someone in the stands, accusing them of racially abusing him.
Carlo Ancelotti, the Real head coach, said: “It’s a crucial moment, a moment to take drastic measures. Now that the issue has visibility, the institutions have to take this opportunity to try to fix this problem.”
In handing out the punishment, the federation said in a statement: “It is considered proven that, as reflected by the referee in his report, there were racist shouts at Vinícius, altering the normal course of the match and the infractions are considered very serious.”
The moves came as Spanish police took further action, arresting seven people accused of racially insulting the Real player.
A police statement confirmed that “three young people’’ had been arrested for the “racist behaviour” that occurred during the match.
On Monday, police in Madrid said that four people aged between 19 and 24 suspected of hanging an effigy of Vinícius from a bridge in January had been arrested.
Piara Powar, executive director of the Fare organisation, criticised the response of La Liga’s president, Javier Tebas, to the latest incident of abuse against Vinícius — which has led Real to lodge a hate crime complaint with national prosecutors — and questioned why the Spanish FA had not clamped down after ten incidents involving the Brazilian winger.
Tebas told Vinícius to “inform yourself properly” about what La Liga can do about racism after the player criticised the league for viewing the abuse as “normal”. Tebas added: “Do not let yourself be manipulated.”
Powar said that in many countries Tebas’s response would be a resignation issue. He told The Times: “This idea that Vinícius Jr brings it upon himself, which Tebas is reinforcing, is really dangerous. In many countries there would be calls for him to resign.
“He [Vinícius Jr] has now been abused ten times at all different clubs, ranging from monkey chanting to Atletico fans hanging his effigy from a bridge.
“The situation in Spain regarding racism in football has reached crisis again, and it is a reflection of the wider politics of Spanish football where the stakeholders do not work together.
“The Spanish FA have taken no action this season and they should have. Tebas is a key figure in European football and La Liga are not powerless — this is their competition where the fans are doing the abusing.
“There is no one in Spain dealing with the issue, and no white players outside of Vinícius Jr’s team-mates who are supporting him. We have gone backwards in Spain.”
Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish football federation, echoed Powar’s throughts at a press conference in Madrid on Monday. “The first thing is to recognise that we have a problem in our country,” he said. “It is a serious problem that also stains an entire team, an entire fan base, an entire club, an entire country.”
He also criticised Tebas’s comments, describing them as “irresponsible behaviour”, and added: “Probably Vinícius is more right than we think and we all need to do more about racism.”
Police in Madrid said on Tuesday night that four people suspected of hanging an effigy of Vinícius from a bridge in January have been arrested.
The effigy was found hanging by the neck on the morning of a derby between Real and Atletico in the Copa del Rey. Along with it was a banner with the words “Madrid hates Real”.
The perpetrators used a black figure with Vinícius’s name on it, tied a rope around its neck and hanged it from a bridge above a motorway. Police said the four people arrested were between the ages of 19 and 24
