"This league has a racism problem" - Carlo Ancelotti attacks La Liga for their failure to protect Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Jr
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has hit out at La Liga officials and claimed that their Valencia match should have been suspended when Vinicius Jr was racially abused. He believes that the league has a big problem and they are not dealing with it appropriately.
Valencia fans racially abused Vinicius Jr on Sunday night and eventually sent off in the final minutes of the match after a brawl between the players.
Ancelotti claimed that the whole stadium racially abused Vinicius Jr and the match should have been suspended immediately. He called out the referees and 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:
"There was a very heated and bad atmosphere and I asked him if he wanted to keep playing. I think it's bad that I even had to think about substituting off a player because the atmosphere was racist. I should be taking players off if they don't play well or for rest, but never because they were the subject of racist abuse. 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 VinÃcius. 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 ended up losing the match 1-0 after Diego Lopez scored the lone goal in the first half.
Vinicius Jr gets sent off as Real Madrid lose again in La Liga
Carlo Ancelotti has backed Vinicius Jr after the Brazilian was subbed off against Valencia. He believes that the forward is still a kid and wants to enjoy football, but things are becoming difficult for him.
The Real Madrid manager went on to claim that the whole squad was with the forward and was ready to walk away from the game.
However, they continued as Vinicius Jr wanted to stay and help the side. The forward was seen crying on the pitch and reports claim it was due to the chants from Valencia fans.