A Spanish agent has sparked outrage over racism in football by insulting Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior.
Brazil legend Pelé raised his voice and declared: “Football is joy.
It's a dance".
Pedro Bravo, President of the Spanish Association of Football Agents, was on the Spanish sports program "El Chiringuito" getting excited about the happy dances that the 22-year-old Vinícius performs after scoring goals.
“Anyone who wants to dance samba should go to the sambodrome in Rio.
Here (Spain) you have to respect your teammates and stop making a fool of yourself,” he rumbled.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBC) later expressed its "solidarity" with the player and condemned the "racist remarks".
Vinicius' club also reacted immediately.
"Real Madrid rejects all kinds of racist and xenophobic statements and behavior (...) such as the unfortunate comments made (...) against our player Vinícius Júnior," Real Madrid said in a statement.
Neymar: "Dance, Vini"
Vinicius himself replied that it was said that many were disturbed by the joy of others, adding: "The joy of a black Brazilian in Europe is even more disturbing." He has been attacked for weeks because of his dances, but these are the dances of Brazil, Neymar, Ronaldinho, Paqueta, Pogba and others.
“These are dances that celebrate the cultural diversity of the world.
I'm not going to stop it.” The comments struck a chord in Brazil, where black players have been hailed with racist taunts from fans.
Bravo meanwhile rowed back.
He only meant the expression "make the monkey" metaphorically in the sense of "don't do stupid things".
He didn't want to offend anyone and apologize, he wrote on Twitter: "I'm sorry." Real Madrid nevertheless said that they would "take legal action".
Before the Madrid derby Atlético against Real on Sunday evening (9 p.m. live on DAZN), Atlético captain Koke suspects difficulties again: “If he scores a goal and dances at the end (...) there will definitely be trouble”.
PSG superstar Neymar, on the other hand, encouraged his compatriot: "Dance, Vini."