Racism: in solidarity with Mouctar Diakhaby, the players of Valencia briefly leave the field
The French defender of Valence, Mouctar Diakhaby, October 23, 2019. AP - Michel Spingler
Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow
4 min
The match of the 29th day of the Spanish championship between Cadiz and Valencia, this Sunday, April 4, was interrupted a few minutes after a racist incident.
The Valencia players left the field after their teammate, Frenchman Mouctar Diakhaby, received racist slurs from an opponent.
They then returned to the grass, at the request of their teammate.
This incident, not unprecedented in Europe, again taints football.
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Because of Covid-19, football fans have been kept away from the stands for more than a year in almost all of Europe.
But despite this in camera, the problem of racism remains on the ground.
A new sad episode has been added to the many precedents this Sunday in Spain.
We were playing the 30th minute of play between Cádiz and Valencia at the Ramon de Carranza stadium, when this La Liga matchday 29 match was interrupted abruptly.
In the midfield, several players surrounded Mouctar Diakhaby, the French defender of Valencia, who was looking to do battle with Juan Cala, the Cadiz striker.
"All with you, Mouctar"
The referee tried to calm heated spirits on both sides and understand what angered the 24-year-old former Lyonnais.
The latter explained that he had received racist insults from Juan Cala.
Slow-motion footage showed that after an in-game duel between the two men, Diakhaby suddenly lost interest in the ball to seek an explanation with Cala.
By mutual agreement, the Valencian players decided to leave the field for a few minutes, before returning.
On social networks, the dear club has delivered some explanations.
Advocating the words "
No to racism
", Valencia CF said that the players have decided to return to the field "
to fight for the coat of arms
", but that the club "
condemns racism in all its forms
".
The Murcielagos ("Bat") also specified that Mouctar Diakhaby, "who received a racist insult, asked his teammates to return to the field and to fight".
"
All with you, Mouctar
", wrote the club again.
Nuestro TOTAL APOYO a @ Diakhaby_5
𝗡𝗢 𝗔𝗟 𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗦𝗠𝗢
El jugador, que ha recibido un insulto racista, ha pedido a sus compañeros que vuelvan al campo a luchar.
TODOS CONTIGO, MOUCTAR # JuntsAnemAMUNT # AllToPlayFor pic.twitter.com/GQzpuO4I2w
- Valencia CF 🦇🍊🌊 (@valenciacf) April 4, 2021
Just before the momentary interruption of the match, Mouctar Diakhaby, a French Espoir international born to Guinean parents, received a yellow card, following his nervousness.
No sanction in revnache was addressed to Juan Cala, who had already received a warning a little earlier.
The match resumed after ten minutes of interruption without Mouctar Diakhaby, replaced.
Juan Cala, he played the remaining 15 minutes of the first period, before being replaced at the break.
The match ended at 8:50 p.m.
Cadiz won on the wire 2-1 thanks to goals from Juan Cala (14th) and Marcos Mauro (88th) against a goal from Kevin Gameiro (19th).
But the result will probably not be the main topic of discussion in the coming hours and days in Spain.
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