• Football Competition closes five matches a stand of Mestalla and withdraws the red card to Vinicius

A politician who aspires to govern Valencia could hardly achieve it with a speech against his parties or against his football teams. That is, against the Fallas and, above all, against Valencia CF. So the controversy around the racist insults of which Vinicius Jr was a victim in Mestalla has resulted in a political storm in the final stretch of the electoral campaign. Of consequences, in addition, unpredictable, because there has been no lack of the request of the Valencian vote in the middle of a battle against Madrid and Real Madrid.

Anti-madridismo is a feeling with some roots among the fans of Mestalla as a result of the rivalry with Real Madrid that was born from the fight for titles during the 2000s. And with the Valencian indignation in full boil, almost all the Valencian candidates have not been slow to point to a smear campaign against Valencia orchestrated from the Spanish capital, which is directly accused of spreading the story that all Valencian fans – and, by extension, Valencian society – are racist.

The clearest in this complaint has been the candidate of the PSOE to the City Council of Valencia, Sandra Gómez, one of the leaders who has positioned herself most in these years against the owner of Valencia, Peter Lim. The current deputy mayor stressed that "Valencia is not racist, Mestalla is not racist and the fans of Valencia are not racist", to then point out that "there is an unfair smear campaign" against the city through "a story initiated from Madrid" that damages the "image and reputation" of the municipality.

The mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, has gone even further by appealing to voters to act accordingly next Sunday: "Whoever does not want racism or centralism, do not vote for centralist or racist parties." Not surprisingly, Ribó is running for re-election for Compromís, which in this electoral campaign is playing the trick of being the only party "of strict Valencian obedience" and, therefore, the only one that defends Valencian interests in Madrid.

In this line, Ribó has questioned the "centralism" that, in his opinion, hints at the speech against Valencia: "You can not expect an exemplary sanction when it happens in Valencia and look the other way when it happens in Madrid".

Even the candidate of Citizens, Fernando Giner, has lamented that "it is not fair how Madrid is treating us." "Why do we Valencians have to justify ourselves before the story they want to impose on us?" asked Giner, paradoxically known for his anti-nationalist discourse. So, then, he warned: "What Madrid is doing right now without realizing it is feeding nationalism, and that is why my obligation right now is to demand maximum respect for our city."

Also from the PP has questioned what, in the words of the candidate for mayor, María José Catalá, has been a "disproportionate and unfair reading". According to the popular leader, the fans of Valencia as a whole are "tolerant and open". Of course, he has not pointed the finger directly at Madrid. Neither has the PP candidate for the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, although he has been clear in his condemnation of the "stigmatization and criminalization of Valencian society."

Same idea in the mouth of the Vox candidate, Juanma Badenas: "You can not criminalize an entire city like Valencia and Valencia CF for the conduct of a very small group of people." The president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, has ruled that "what cannot be said is that this problem is Valencian because it is not at all".

  • Valence
  • PP
  • Sandra Gomez
  • Joan Ribó
  • Compromís
  • Citizenry
  • María José Català
  • Valencia CF
  • Ximo Puig
  • To:
  • Real Madrid
  • PSOE

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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