La Liga President Javier Tebas called Vinicius Junior’s criticism of the league’s anti-racist work “unfair” after the Real Madrid winger expressed his frustration on social media.
Madrid beat Real Valladolid 2-0 at José Zorrilla on Friday, but the match was overshadowed by Vinicius.
The next day, the Brazilian wrote on Instagram that “racists keep going to stadiums and looking up close at the best club in the world, and La Liga is still doing nothing.”
Vinicius was substituted during the match and was nearly hit by several objects thrown from the stands as he walked behind one of the goals, with fans seemingly directing racist chants at him.
However, Tebas rejected Vinicius’ claim that La Liga was doing nothing to banish racists from the sport.
AND @laliga
Fight against RACISMO Há Anos.@vinijr é injusto e não é verdade publicar que
“@laliga não faz nada contra o racismo”, se informe melhor. Estamos à sua disposição para que TODOS JUNTOS, possamos caminhar na mesma direção. https://t.co/60US2GxMbJ— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) December 31, 2022
“In La Liga we have been fighting racism for years,” Tebas wrote. “Vinicius Junior, it’s unfair and untrue to publish that ‘La Liga does nothing against racism.’
“Learn more. We are at your disposal so that together we can move in the same direction.”
Tebas’ tweet also included a link to a La Liga statement claiming that incidents in Valladolid would be reported to the prosecutor’s office for hate crimes; in addition, he has documented previous instances of filing complaints with the judiciary in an attempt to rebut criticisms of Vinicius.
“Before Vinicius Jr., a Real Madrid player, posted a comment on his social media in which he alludes to La Liga’s inaction in the fight against racism, La Liga discovered racist slurs from someone in the stands of the Zorrilla stadium. [which were] posted on social media,” the statement began.
“These events will be reported to the Anti-Violence Commission and the Hate Crime Prosecutor’s Office, as has been the case on other occasions where La Liga, after investigating racist behavior in and out of stadiums, has led the fight against such acts. ”
