Racism against Vinicius in Spain: seven young men arrested for assaulting the Real Madrid striker

On Tuesday, the Spanish National Police arrested three young men aged between 18 and 21 for their alleged involvement in the crime racist insults received by Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Vinicius last Sunday at the Valencia stadium.

As reported by the Superior Police Headquarters of the Valencian Community in a short statement, all inmates are Spanish and have been charged with an alleged offense connected with the exercise of fundamental rights and public freedoms.

The same sources indicate that the information on these arrests will be expanded “later”.

This same Tuesday morning, the government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, said that three of the alleged perpetrators of the racist insults had been identified, Although work is still underway to display the videos both inside and outside the Mestalla stadium.

The arrests come after an intense debate over racism that erupted in Spain this weekend, when several Valencia fans insulted and called the Real Madrid forward an ‘ape’. Vinicius heard the screams, exploded with rage and came out to indicate a fan.

He had already received shout-outs in other matches before, including meeting Barcelona at the Camp Nou or the Madrid derby against Atlético de Madrid. Ahead of this last match, a group of ultras from Diego Simeone’s team had a doll with Vinicio’s shirt hanging from a bridge near the sports town of Valdebebas, where the ‘Merengue’ is trained. The mannequin with the Brazilian player’s number 20 was accompanied by a banner: “Madrid hates Real”.

In this case, this Tuesday the police arrested another four young Atlético fans, who They can be accused of a hate crime. They are between 19 and 24 years old. They had been denounced by the Spanish League after the fact, which occurred in January this year. In total there are 10 complaints of racism against Vinicius, according to the newspaper El País.

Since then, both La Liga and leading players in Spanish football have spoken out against the attacks. Valencia announced this Monday in an official statement that they will expel fans who insulted the striker from their stadium “for life”.

“It wasn’t the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga. The competition thinks it’s normal, even the Federation and the opponents encourage it. I’m sorry. The league that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo , Cristiano and Messi Today is for racists. A beautiful nation, which has welcomed me and the person I love, but which has agreed to export the image of a racist country to the world”, the player had posted on his social networks after the scandal.

And he continued: “I’m sorry for the Spaniards who do not agree, but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists. And unfortunately, for everything that happens every week, I have no defenses. I agree. But I am strong and will go far against racists. Even if it’s far from here.”

This class of attitudes towards the Brazilian are not new, but have become more pronounced in recent times. His explosion in recent seasons, which has allowed him to become one of the best performing forwards in Spanish football, has brought with it the consequence of starting to suffer hard kicks from various defenders to try to stop him, as well as he started to be the focus of taunts from rival fans.

A chorus of personalities, from Brazilian president Lula Da Silva to Paris Saint-Germain player Kylian Mbappé, condemned the attacks on Vinícius’ ears. The president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, was with him this Monday. “The club will go to its final consequences,” he promised.

“For me, Vinicius is the most important player in the world, the strongest in the world. LaLiga has a problem,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti after Sunday’s match, where he avoided talking about football and aimed his guns against the organizers. the first division championship.

“Neither Spain nor LaLiga are racist, it is very unfair to say that,” defended Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga. “From LaLiga we denounce and prosecute racism with all the harshness in our power,” he insisted.