Spanish football association RFEF’s president Luis Rubiales has expressed his support for Vinicius Junior, who was racially abused in Sunday’s game between Real Madrid and Valencia.
“This goes beyond football,” Rubiales said at a press conference. “There is a problem in our country with behaviour, upbringing and racism. Even if only one person is insulted on the basis of race or skin color, we have a serious problem. Whether it’s one person, two or a group, it doesn’t matter. We are a hospitable country. Anyone who is offended will have our support.”
Javier Tebas’ reply to Vinícius’ statements
LaLiga boss Javier Tebas was widely criticised for criticising Vinicius’ statement. The attacker argued that racism and LaLiga go hand in hand and little is being done to combat it, but Tebas was not happy about that. He countered fiercely and claimed that LaLiga is actively fighting against racism. At the same time, Vinícius would not show up on dates that he himself had requested to discuss the subject. “Spain and LaLiga are not racist, it’s unfair to say so,” Tebas said now.
“At LaLiga we fight racism in the toughest way possible. We’ve had nine reports of racism this season, eight of which were against Vinícius. We identify the idiots responsible and pass on all reports to the authorities in a position to punish,” he continued.
“We must not allow the reputation of a league, which is a symbol of unity and where more than 200 black players from 42 clubs are welcomed with respect and love every week, to be tarnished. Racism is an extremely rare occurrence (nine reports) that we want to eliminate completely,” Tebas concluded.
Spanish federation president lashes out at Tebas after remark about Vinícius
Rubiales was presented with Tebas’ words and disagrees. “I ask that the chairman’s irresponsible behavior be ignored. He addresses social media to a football player who has recently been treated racist. That’s not what we as board members stand for, we want to solve problems.”
Meanwhile, Real Madrid has asked Valencia to open an investigation and the club has agreed to do so. Real president Florentino Pérez spoke extensively with Vinícius about the situation on Monday afternoon.
