"I’m not your friend to talk about racism. I want actions and punishments" - Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr hits back at Javier Tebas after racism incident
Vinicius Jr has criticized Javier Tebas after the La Liga president expressed his dissatisfaction with the Brazilian for speaking out on social media.
Vinicius was the subjected to racist abuse during Real Madrid's 1-0 La Liga defeat to Valencia at the Mestalla on Sunday, May 21. The home fans constantly hurled racist slurs at the winger, with the game even getting paused at one instance as Vinicius and his teammates picked out a provocateur in the crowd.
He also got involved in a scuffle with Hugo Duro, with teammates being called in to restrain him. He was then sent off for violent conduct deep into second-half stoppage time after lashing out at Duro for having his arm around the Madrid ace's neck.
After the match, Vinicius took to social media and said that racism has become common in the league, before adding that the authorities do not seem interested in dealing with it.
This did not sit well with Tebas, who asked the 22-year-old to not get "manipulated" by others and to "fully understand" the work they "have been doing together."
Ya que los que deberían no te explican qué es y qué puede hacer @LaLiga en los casos de racismo, hemos intentado explicártelo nosotros, pero no te has presentado a ninguna de las dos fechas acordadas que tú mismo solicitaste. Antes de criticar e injuriar a @LaLiga, es necesario… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/eHvdd3vJcb
Vinicius minced no words in his reply to Tebas, stating that he was more interested in attacking the winger for speaking out rather than dealing with the racists sternly. He also demanded "actions and punishments" from the 60-year-old.
The Real Madrid player tweeted:
"Once again, instead of criticizing racists, the president of LaLiga appears on social media to attack me. As much as you talk and pretend not to read, the image of your championship is shaken. See the responses to your posts and have a surprise. Omitting yourself only makes you equal to racists. I'm not your friend to talk about racism. I want actions and punishments. Hashtag doesn't move me."
Mais uma vez, em vez de criticar racistas, o presidente da LaLiga aparece nas redes sociais para me atacar.
Por mais que você fale e finja não ler, a imagem do seu campeonato está abalada. Veja as respostas do seus posts e tenha uma surpresa...
Omitir-se só faz com que você se… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
"This league has a racism problem" - Carlo Ancelotti attacks La Liga after Vinicius Jr is subjected to racist abuse
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti came to Vinicius Jr.'s defence and hit out at La Liga officials, saying that the league has a big problem with racism and they are not dealing with it in the right manner.
Ancelotti stated that the whole stadium racially abused Vinicius and opined that the match should have been suspended immediately. Speaking to the media after the match, he said:
"They should have suspended the match then and there. It wasn't one person. It was a whole stadium that went crazy. I had never before seen a whole stadium being racist. Maybe I've seen a few people being racist, but I had never seen that from a whole stadium."
He added:
"What happened today I have seen other times, but not quite like this. This was unacceptable. This league has a racism problem. The problem isn't Vinícius. He is the victim. What should be done? I'm not the best placed person to answer that, but you can't play football like this."
Real Madrid are set to end the season without any silverware after being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League by Manchester City. They have already lost their La Liga crown to Xavi's Barcelona.