3 detained over Vinicius racist insults
Spanish police yesterday arrested three youths suspected of hurling racist insults at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during a weekend match, sparking an international outcry.
The 22-year-old Brazilian international forward was targeted by a home supporter during a 1-0 defeat at Valencia on Sunday and was later sent off.
He has often been racially abused at stadiums across Spain this season.
“Police arrested today three young people in Valencia for the racist behaviour that occurred on Sunday in the match between Valencia and Real Madrid,” Spain’s National Police said in a statement.
Sunday’s match was held up for several minutes and the referee wrote in his post-match report that shouts of “monkey” had been directed at Vinicius.
Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation into the incident, which was condemned by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Earlier, police said they yesterday arrested four men suspected of hanging a dummy of Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior from a bridge in Madrid in January.
The four men, who were arrested in Madrid, are “suspected of a hate crime for hanging from a bridge a mannequin with Vinicius’ shirt,” police said in a separate statement.
The dummy wearing Vinicius’ jersey was hung by the neck from a highway bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground on Jan 26 ahead of the club’s match against Atletico Madrid.
A banner in the red and white colours of Atletico reading “Madrid hates Real” was also flung over the bridge.
There is growing anger in Brazil, where the lights of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro were turned off for one hour in solidarity with the player.
“Black and imposing,” Vinicius tweeted of the darkened statue, saying he was moved and thanked followers for their support.
“But I want, above all, to inspire and bring more light to our fight.”
The Brazilian government has formally protested to the Spanish ambassador and will lodge an official complaint with authorities in Madrid.
Brazil “deeply regrets that no effective measures have yet been taken to prevent the recurrence of these racist acts,” the government said in a statement.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti’s said yesterday that Fifa’s racism protocol in football was “obsolete.”
Fifa’s three-step process involves the match being paused until a stadium announcement is made asking for racist abuse to stop, which happened at Mestalla.
The second step, after any further abuse, is to temporarily take players off the pitch and the third step, if it continues, is to abandon the game and give three points to the opposition.