Real Madrid lodge hate crime complaint after Vinicius Jr targeted with racist abuse during Valencia match
Real Madrid have lodged a hate crime complaint with Spanish prosecutors after Vinicius Junior was targeted with racist abuse during their away tie against Valencia.
Madrid’s match against Valencia was paused on Sunday night after the half-time break as the 22-year-old Brazilian pointed out supporters who were taunting him to the referee.
Vinicius, who has been racially abused from the stands several times this season, was enraged, prompting teammates and opposition players to try to calm him down at Valencia’s Mestalla ground.
The Brazilian was later sent off for violent conduct in added time of his side’s 1-0 defeat following an altercation with Valencia striker Hugo Duro – the first red card of his career.
French striker Kylian Mbappe has led the messages of support for Vinicius.
He wrote in a post wrote on Instagram: “You are not alone. We are with you and we support you.”
The 24-year-old Paris Saint-Germain star was targeted with racist abuse himself after France lost to Argentina in the World Cup final last year.
Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior imitates the abuse directed towards him by a fan
His message of support came after former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, an anti-racism campaigner, posted on Instagram: “(Vinicius) receives a red card after being choked and receiving racial abuse during the game.
“How many times do we need to see this young man subjected to this s***?? I see pain, I see disgust, I see him needing help… and the authorities don’t do s*** to help him.
“People need to stand together and demand more from the authorities that run our game.
“No one deserves this yet you are allowing it.
“There needs to be a unified approach to this otherwise it will be swept under the carpet AGAIN.”
Vinicius Junior gestures towards a fan after witnessing abuse
In reference to Vinicius Jr receiving a red card, Match Of The Day presenter and former England striker Gary Lineker tweeted: “Once again, the player being abused is the only person to be punished.”
FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino also expressed his support for Vinicius and said in a statement: “Full solidarity to Vinicius. There is no place for racism in football or in society and FIFA stands by all players who have found themselves in such a situation.”
In a statement on Instagram after the match, Vinicius had referenced the previous instances of racist abuse and accused Spain’s footballing authorities of not doing enough.
“It wasn’t the first time, not the second and not the third. Racism is normal in La Liga,” he said.
“The competition thinks it’s normal, so does the Federation and the opponents encourage it. I am so sorry.”
‘La Liga belongs to the racists’
Vinicius said the Spanish league, that once “belonged” to star players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, now “belongs to the racists”.
“Sorry for the Spaniards who do not agree, but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists,” he added.
“And unfortunately, with everything that happens on a weekly basis, I have no way to defend. I agree.”
Meanwhile, La Liga president Javier Tebas accused Vinicius of twice not turning up for meetings to discuss what can be done “in cases of racism”.
Mr Tebas wrote: “Before criticising and insulting La Liga it is necessary that you inform yourself properly Vinicius Jr.”
Vinicius hit back and said: “Once again, instead of criticising racists, the president of La Liga appears on social media to attack me.”
He added that he wants “actions and punishments” for people who make racist chants.
Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti had earlier backed his player after the match, saying La Liga “has a problem” with racism.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva: ‘We can’t allow racism to become part of life at a soccer stadium’
The Italian said the referee should have stopped the match due to the “unacceptable” chanting directed at Vinicius.
“It’s the entire stadium that is insulting a player with racist chants, and the match has to stop,” he added.
Mr Ancelotti also tweeted: “Today has been a sad day at Mestalla, where a group of fans have shown their worst version.
“It is time to stop talking and act forcefully. Racism cannot have a place in football or in society. NO TO RACISM ANYWHERE.”
However, Valencia director Javier Solis said Mr Ancelotti was wrong to blame the abuse on all fans.
He said: “In light of the unfortunate and completely incorrect statements by Mr Ancelotti, in which he branded all of the fans in Mestalla as racist, the club cannot tolerate this.
“We reject these complaints head-on. Possibly it is a result of a mistake in the language and he must have understood another word as being said.
“The club condemn any kind of racist insults and are working to identify the people who allegedly made a gesture or action, but calling all the Valencia CF fans racist is nonsense and the club cannot remain silent.”
Meanwhile, Luis Rubiales, the head of Spain’s national football federation the RFEF, has said the country has a problem with racism.
Kylian Mbappe was subjected to racist abuse after France lost the World Cup final
Brazil’s President Lula da Silva is among those who condemned Sunday’s treatment of Vinicius.
Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan, he called on FIFA and La Liga to “take measures so we don’t allow racism and fascism to take over” the sport.
The president said Vinicius, widely considered one of the best young players in the world, was being “insulted in every stadium he goes to”.
Club vows investigation
La Liga has released its own statement, saying it had been “fighting against this kind of behaviour for years”.
Valencia also posted a statement on their club website, pledging it would investigate what happened and “take the most severe measures”.
“Valencia CF wishes to publicly condemn any type of insult, attack or disqualification in football,” it added.
Some 46,000 supporters were in attendance for Sunday’s match, which saw Valencia move up to 13th in the league table and Madrid remain third – 14 points behind arch-rivals and champions Barcelona.
Diego Lopez got the only goal of the game in the 33rd minute for the home side.
Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn pay packet.
Tesla shareholders have approved the whopping financial package for the CEO – who’s already worth an estimated $491bn – if he hits a series of ambitious targets over the next 10 years.
But that $1trn figure (or £761,910,000,000) – which is both one thousand billion and one million million – is almost impossible to imagine for most people.
Even so, we have drilled down into the numbers and examined what you can do with a trillion US dollars – and it turns out, quite a lot.
Show me the money
Laid end to end, a trillion one-dollar bills would cover a distance of approximately 156 billion metres.
That could wrap around the equator 3,890 times, easily reach the sun from Earth (around 149.6 million km) or loop from Earth to the moon 405 times.
That many one-dollar notes could cover a massive area (roughly 10,339 km squared), meaning you could blanket nearly all of Lebanon or Jamaica in bills.
Spend it on sport
You could splash out on virtually all of the world’s major sporting leagues.
The clubs which make up the Premier League are relatively cheap ($30bn), and even when snapping up the UEFA Champions League clubs and the big five top divisions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, there’s still $858bn left in the kitty.
The four major US sports leagues for ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and American football (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have a rough valuation of $544bn, according to Sportico.
But then add the IPL cricket league ($120bn) and F1 ($23.1bn) and Musk still has change from an estimated total spend of $829.7bn.
Elon Musk is in the money if he hits targets set by Tesla’s shareholders. File pic: AP
Take over Tesla’s rivals
He could buy up the top 15 largest publicly traded automakers (excluding Tesla) by market capitalisation.
They would include firms like Japan’s Toyota ($275bn), Chinese automaker BYD ($120bn), and luxury brands like Ferrari ($81bn) and Mercedes-Benz ($62bn), as well as BMW ($52bn), Volkswagen ($50bn) and Ford ($48bn).
But there would still be a little change left over; the total bill would be an eye-watering $992bn.
Buy up San Diego
He could buy up every single residential property in San Diego County – valued at a total of $1trn. Seattle is just slightly out of reach at $1.1trn, according to recent data from real estate firm Zillow.
But if he wanted to buy big – there is always Tennessee. The total value of homes in the US state is estimated at $957bn. Or there is Maryland, which at $1.01trn could be bought if he can find a little more cash behind the sofa.
Sadly, he would struggle to scoop up London’s entire housing stock, which in February was valued at just under £2trn ($2.53trn), according to agents Savills.
Cities like New York ($4.6trn) and Los Angeles ($3.9trn) are also not within his budget, hosting America’s most expensive residential markets.
Do something charitable?
There is always the possibility Musk could follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years.
He could give every single man, woman, and child in the US a share of his cash pile. They would receive approximately $2,917.32 (£2,223.29), based on a population estimate of 342.7 million.
Although it would be roughly $14,348.79 (£10,935.20) for every person (roughly 69.6 million) in the UK.
If he wanted to give the entire globe an early Christmas present, then based on the rough world population estimate of 8.2 billion, everyone would receive $121.80 (£92.87).
Pay off the credit card
With $1trn, he could instantly rewrite history and erase debt interest payments and the government debt from dozens of the world’s sovereign nations.
Or Musk could wipe out the debts of Singapore ($1trn) or South Korea ($0.99trn) in one go, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook (Oct 2025).
But when it comes to the biggest debt-laden countries, $1trn would not even touch the sides.
The US has $38.3trn of government debt (just over one third of the total global debt pile) while the UK has a modest $4.1trn.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024