Ancelotti condemns Vinicius racist abuse

BARCELONA — Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Spanish soccer has a racism problem and needs to be prepared to halt matches, after Madrid star Vinicius Junior was again the target of abuse during a 1-0 defeat at Valencia in La Liga on Sunday.

"The Spanish league has a problem, and Vinicius is not the problem. Vinicius is the victim. There's a very serious problem," Ancelotti said, adding that Vinicius was "sad, not angry" after the incidents at the Mestalla.

Play was delayed for several minutes in the second half after Vinicius appeared to be racially abused by a Valencia supporter.

The Brazilian forward stood in front of the fans behind the goal and pointed to one, with teammate Eder Militao by his side.

Vinicius was later sent off in added time at the end of the game for hitting Hugo Duro during a brawl, with Valencia triumphing through Diego Lopez's first-half goal.

"The fact I thought about taking him off because of the racist atmosphere does not seem good to me," Ancelotti told reporters.

"What has happened today has happened before, but not like that, it's unacceptable."

Vinicius has been racially abused at several stadiums this season in Spain and an effigy of him was hung from a bridge in the Spanish capital by Atletico Madrid fans.

La Liga has filed legal complaints to Spanish authorities on multiple occasions this season, with the league pledging on Sunday to do so again after investigating. However, Ancelotti said it was not helping.

"What has happened? Reports, and nothing at all has come from it. The solution is to stop the game," continued the coach.

"I am very sad, this has never happened to me — I've never had to take off a player because of insults.

"He's a kid, he likes playing football, but in these conditions it's very complicated."

Vinicius took to Instagram after the defeat. "The prize for the racists today is that they have sent me off. It's not football, it's La Liga," wrote the 22-year-old.

The forward said Spain was viewed as "a country of racists" in his homeland Brazil.

"The league that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano (Ronaldo) and (Leo) Messi, now belongs to racists," added Vinicius.

La Liga said in a statement that it was investigating the incident and would take legal action if a hate crime had been committed.

The Spanish top flight said it has been "proactive" in previous cases of racism against Vinicius, filing nine complaints with relevant authorities and prosecutors.

After Vinicius' standoff with Valencia supporters, referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea spoke to stadium officials, who made an announcement calling for racist insults to stop before play resumed around 10 minutes later.

In his post-match report, the referee wrote that a fan shouted "monkey, monkey" at the player.

"There's a lack of respect for Vinicius shown continuously at almost every stadium in Spain," Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos told Movistar.

Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said he heard some "monkey noises" after around 20 minutes and said he would have walked off with Vinicius if the Brazilian chose to stop playing.

"If Vini wants to keep playing, we keep playing, but if Vini says he's not playing anymore, I'm leaving the pitch with him, because we cannot tolerate these things," Courtois told Movistar.

Players from both sides ended up in a brawl in stoppage time which ended with a red card for Vinicius for lashing out at Duro with his arm, although the Valencia forward was pictured with his arm around the Brazilian's neck.

On Monday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the racist abuse, and called for FIFA and the Spanish league to take "serious measures".

AFP