Vinícius Junior has had enough.
The Real Madrid striker, a magnet for racist chants from the stands in Spanish stadiums for the past two seasons, took to social media after the latest attack on him on Sunday, when he was berated by fans in Valencia. This time he was aiming not only at his abusers, but also at Spain itself.
“It was not the first time, nor the second, nor the third,” wrote Vinícius Júnior in a post on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. “Racism is normal in La Liga. The competition thinks it’s normal, the union too and the opponents encourage it.” Spain itself, he said, was beginning to be known in its native Brazil “as a country of racists.”
On Sunday, Vinícius Júnior was met by fans who chanted the word “mono” — ape — even before getting off the Real Madrid bus outside the Mestalla stadium in Valencia. The game was briefly halted in the 71st minute when he pointed out some of his abusers to the referee, and an anti-racism statement – part of league protocol for such incidents – was read to the crowd over the stadium’s loudspeakers. Towards the end, however, it was Vinicius who was cast as the villain: he was shown a red card in the final minutes of stoppage time after scuffle with an opponent who had attacked him.
Outbursts of racist violence echoing in the stands of Spanish football stadiums are not uncommon or new, but they are particularly aimed at Vinícius Júnior, who has become one of the league’s key players since the departure of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
In its statement announcing an investigation into Sunday’s events in Valencia, La Liga acknowledged it had reported nine separate incidents of racist abuse against Vinícius Júnior in the past two seasons alone. By then, the player had taken to social media, writing that the attacks against him tarnished Spain’s image around the world.
“A beautiful nation, which welcomed me and I love, but which agreed to export to the world the image of a racist country,” he wrote. “I’m sorry for the Spaniards who disagree, but today Spain is known in Brazil as a country of racists.”
He even suggested that not cracking down on racism could drive him out of the country.
The reaction to what happened in Mestalla sparked new research into how Spanish football dealt with racism in stadiums. In a televised interview immediately after the match, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelloti reacted in disbelief when asked to talk about the match. “I don’t want to talk about football,” he said. “I want to know what happened here.”
In a press conference that followed, local journalists tried to correct Ancelloti’s assessment that the entire stadium was responsible by telling him that he had misheard the chant. Then Valencia officials denied widespread racism in the stands, despite videos online appearing to show large swaths of the crowd chanting the word monkey. Some reporters suggested to Ancelloti that the majority of supporters were actually chanting “tonto,” a word that means foolish in Spanish. “Whether it was ‘mono’ or ‘tonto’, the referee stopped the match to open the racism protocol,” replied Ancelotti. “He wouldn’t if they just chanted ‘tonto’. Talk to the umpire.”
Within hours, La Liga CEO Javier Tebas was engaged in a back-and-forth conversation with Vinícius Júnior on Twitter. In it, Tebas defended Spain, described the league’s efforts to crack down on racist behavior and berated Vinícius for what Tebas said was his failure to show up at two meetings to discuss the abuse he had received.
Tebas’ statement sparked a furious reaction from the player.
“Again, instead of criticizing racists, the La Liga president is appearing on social media to attack me,” Vinicius wrote. “No matter how much you talk and pretend not to read, the image of your championship has been tarnished. See the comments on your posts and you will have a surprise. Leaving yourself out only makes you equal to racists.”
The incident drew criticism and support from around the world.
Speaking at a press conference at the end of a G7 summit in Japan, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he wanted to send a message of solidarity to Vinícius, saying it was “unjust” for him to be “insulted in every stadium .where he plays.”
“It is not possible to have such strong racial prejudice in so many football stadiums in the middle of the 21st century,” Lula said.
Current and former players also rallied around Vinícius and targeted the authorities in Spain for not doing more to root out racism, which some commentators in Spain have routinely described as merely an attempt to gain advantage on the pitch.
Kylian Mbappé, who nearly moved to Spain last season to join Vinicius in Madrid, posted a message of support on Instagram. He was joined by Neymar, a Brazilian star who also faced racial abuse while playing for Barcelona in Spain.
La Liga, meanwhile, issued a statement detailing what it said were its efforts to stamp out racism in its stadiums. The league said it was working with authorities in Valencia to investigate what happened, and vowed to take legal action if a hate crime was identified.
The latest incident marks a new investigation into Spanish football at a time when it is seeking global support to secure hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup as part of a joint effort with Portugal and Morocco.
“La Liga has been fighting against this kind of behavior for years and promoting the positive values of sport not only on the field of play, but also beyond it,” the league said.
Still, it is limited in the type of penalties it can inflict on clubs. For example, stadium closures can only be approved by the national football association, which was struck by the silence on events in Valencia on Monday afternoon.
