Vinicius Jr: Three people arrested after racist abuse of Real Madrid star in Valencia
panish police have arrested three people in connection with the racist abuse aimed at Vinicius Jr in Valencia.
Four men have also been detained in connection with an incident in January in which an effigy of the Brazilian was hung from a bridge outside the Real Madrid training ground.
It comes after Real Madrid on Monday lodged a hate-crime complaint following the abuse the Brazil striker received in a match against Valencia on Sunday.
As a new racism crisis engulfs Spanish football, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has also said he expects Vinicius to stay at the club despite suffering abuse in several LaLiga matches.
“I don’t think (he will leave Spain), because he loves football and he loves Real Madrid,” said Ancelotti on Tuesday morning. “His love for the club is very big and he wants to make his career here.”
Meanwhile, LaLiga will request greater jurisdiction to punish clubs whose fans are guilty of racist abuse after feeling “powerless” at the lack of current sanctions in the wake of the latest Vinicius incident.
Vinicius Jr will stay at Real Madrid despite racist abuse suffered in LaLiga matches, says Carlo Ancelotti
/ Getty ImagesLaLiga, according to the country’s law, can currently only identify and report incidents, and punishment is rarely handed out.
Now it wants legislation changing so that it has the power to impose punishments such as forcing games to be played behind closed doors or financial penalties.
It said in a statement: “LaLiga will request more sanctioning powers, with the aim of being more agile and effective in the fight against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport, where LaLiga has been leading the identification and reporting of such behaviour in football stadiums for years, but feels powerless when observing how its reporting ends.
“Despite its intense and continuous fight against violence and racism to the full extent of its powers (currently, according to Spanish legislation, limited to identifying and reporting the facts that occur), LaLiga feels tremendous frustration at the lack of sanctions and convictions by the sport’s disciplinary bodies, public administrations and jurisdictional bodies to which it reports.
“Faced with this serious situation, in the coming days LaLiga will formally request the amendment of Law 19/2007 of July 11, against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport and Law 39/2022 of December 30, on sport.
“The purpose of the proposal is to request that LaLiga may exercise disciplinary authority over incidents of this type which occur in matches of the professional competition, so that the disciplinary bodies of LaLiga may proceed to sanction them, among other things, with the total or partial closure of the sports venue, the prohibition of access to it in the case of members/fans and the imposition of financial penalties, without prejudice to the adoption of provisional or precautionary measures that may be appropriate, depending on the nature and seriousness of the incidents.
“As we have been repeating in recent days, LaLiga has been leading the fight against violence, racism and intolerance on football pitches, both inside and outside the stadium, identifying such behaviour through its match directors, security officers and television cameras, and subsequently reporting it to the relevant bodies.”
