September 30 – The Spanish league has called for the arrest of fans behind a hate campaign aimed at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jnr.
The plea came ahead of Sunday’s Madrid derby when some fans claimed on social media that they would attend the game wearing masks, enabling them to racially abuse the Brazilian international without being identified.
Vinícius has frequently been targeted with racist abuse from opposition fans. Last year, four Atlético fans were charged after an effigy of Vinícius was hung from a bridge.
And in June, three Valencia fans were jailed for eight months for racially abusing Vinícius during a LaLiga game in May 2023, in the first verdict of its kind in Spain.
“LaLiga wishes to announce that it will proceed to formally report and request the immediate arrest of the instigators behind a hate campaign seeking to promote racist and derogatory acts at the upcoming match between Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid,” the league said ahead of Sunday’s derby which was halted in the second half because of unrelated crowd trouble.
” LaLiga vigorously condemns these actions that – directly or indirectly – encourage, promote and incite hatred against an individual, in this case, the player Vinícius Jr., because of his race. LaLiga will not tolerate such behaviour under any circumstances.”
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