"If Viniciur Jr says he's leaving, I'm going with him" - Real Madrid superstar promises to walk out of games if he hears racist chanting
Real Madrid superstar Thibaut Courtois has said that he would leave the pitch along with Vinicius Junior if the latter receives racist abuse. The Brazilian attacker was the subject of constant racist slurs during the La Liga away clash against Valencia on Sunday (May 21).
The game had to be paused in one instance, as Vinicius, along with other Los Blancos players, went to point out a particular fan who was hurling racist abuse at the player.
Courtois has now shared his take on the matter. He lambasted the fans for their actions (via France 24):
"If Vini wants to keep playing, we keep playing, but if Vinicius Jr says he's leaving, I'm leaving the pitch with him, because we cannot tolerate these things."
Vinicius also received a red card during a brawl in the seventh minute of injury time. Courtois said about the same:
"With the brawl, the first to receive a red card should be Hugo Duro, who grabbed Vinicius by the neck."
The Real Madrid goalkeeper also said that there were racist slurs aimed at his Brazilian teammate earlier in the game, too:
"(I feel) bad because there was an act of racism ... I remember at the start, around the 20th minute there were monkey sounds; sometimes it's hard to see if it is or not, (but) the first thing is that we cannot accept this; we cannot tolerate this. One day, you will have to put a camera just focused on these people because the disgusting things you can hear are crazy."
Real Madrid suffer shock defeat at Valencia
The racism controversy at the Mestalla made football take a back seat. Coming to the game itself, Real Madrid lost 1-0, with Diego Lopez netting a 33rd-minute winner.
Los Blancos, despite bossing possession, failed to score, slumping to their second straight loss across competitions without scoring. Earlier in midweek, they went down 4-0 at Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg, bowing out with a 5-1 aggregate defeat.
Following their loss at the Mestalla, Carlo Ancelotti's team have slipped to third spot in the league. They have 71 points from 35 games and trail second-placed Atletico Madrid by a point.