January 3 – Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr has accused LaLiga of continuing to do nothing about racist abuse from fans after he was targeted by Real Valladolid fans last Friday.
But La Liga hit back strongly with its outspoken president Javier Tebas labelling Vinicius’ accusations as “unfair and untrue” and while La Liga said in a statement it would fight against “the scourge of violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport”.
LaLiga has since filed charges relating to the racist abuse Vinicius to the “relevant judicial, administrative and sporting bodies”.
Vinicius was subjected to fans shouting abuse and throwing objects at him at the Jose Zorrilla stadium in Valladolid as he was substituted in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Real Valladolid last week.
Vinícius posted a statement online in which he said that “racists continue to go to stadiums and watch the biggest club in the world up close and La Liga continues to do nothing.”
“At La Liga, I’ve been fighting racism for years,” Tebas wrote.
He also posted a link that included examples of previous action taken against racist abuse, three of them involving chants directed at Vinícius.
Following up today, a LaLiga statement said: “A criminal charge for hate crimes has been filed with the Valladolid Magistrates’ Courts, supported by audiovisual evidence gathered in the investigation carried out through images and audio clips published on open sources.
“LaLiga has also asked the Valladolid Magistrates’ Courts to transfer the complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Hate Crimes so that it can participate in the case.”
LaLiga also said it is increasing efforts to “eradicate any kind of violence, racism or xenophobia inside and outside stadiums”. That will include increasing integrity officers at matches where there is a risk of racist insults.
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