Ancelotti: Spain has ‘great opportunity’ to take ‘drastic’ measures against racism

MADRID — The visibility surrounding the latest case of abuse against Vinícius Júnior gives Spain a great opportunity to take serious action against racism, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Tuesday.

Ancelotti said Vinícius is sad but remained motivated after yet another case of racial abuse against him in the Spanish league on Sunday. He said he didn’t think the Brazilian was considering leaving despite hinting he could take his fight against racism somewhere else.

Ancelotti’s comments came as Spanish police arrested seven people accused of racially abusing Vinícius. Three were detained in Valencia and four in Madrid for allegedly hanging an effigy of the player off a highway bridge in January.

Vinícius, who is Black, has been repeatedly subjected to racial abuse in Spain, especially this season.

Ancelotti said racism and insults in general are too normal in Spain and its the right moment to try to start eradicating the problem.

The veteran coach called on the local institutions such as the Spanish federation and the league to “act decisively.”

“It’s a crucial moment, a moment to take drastic measures,” Ancelotti said.

He said cases of racism in Spain are not isolated, and that just denouncing them isn’t going to be enough.

“We’re concerned about what has happened, just like everyone else,” Ancelotti said. “There has been lots of talk about the situation and it’s right and fair to talk about it. It could be a great opportunity to take big strides to improve things.”

Barcelona coach Xavi had already said Monday that the message for the federation and the league was that it was the “right time” to tackle the issue of racism in Spain.

Both Xavi and Ancelotti said that games should be stopped when there is an incident like what happened against Vinícius.

Ancelotti said that maybe he should have taken his team off the field after Vinícius said he was insulted in Valencia, but at the time didn’t feel it was needed after talking to the player and hearing that he wanted to continue.

“I may do it in the future, even though it’s not my responsibility,” he said. “I hope we don’t have to come to such a drastic response because I don’t want it to go that far.”

Ancelotti said the current protocol against racism is “obsolete,” and that authorities should have taken action in Valencia even before the game started as fans called Vinícius a monkey as the Madrid team bus arrived in the stadium.

Ancelotti said Vinícius was “really upset” but knows he has the support from everyone, not just Real Madrid.

Ancelotti apologized for saying the entire Mestalla Stadium was racially insulting Vinícius in Valencia on Sunday, but said it doesn’t take away from the fact that insults were made, whether racist or not.

Madrid president Florentino Pérez said Tuesday his club “will not tolerate any more racist incidents against its players.”