The Spanish Football Federation has overturned the expulsion of Brazilian Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior after he was subjected to racist chants during Sunday's Valencia match, while imposing sporting and financial sanctions on bats.
Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoscuka sent off the Brazilian in stoppage time, after assaulting the Valencia player who was holding his neck.
Before the expulsion, Vinicius complained that he had been subjected to racist chants from Valencia fans, which led to a 10-minute halt to the match, while referring to the people who chanted against him. Vinicius also threatened to leave the pitch during the second half of the match, after fans targeted him by imitating monkey sounds.
O árbitro de vídeo que recomendou a expulsão do atacante Vini Jr., Ignacio Villanueva, foi afastado da próxima rodada do Campeonato Espanhol. Villanueva ainda pode ser demitido da federação espanhola; O argumento é que o juiz foi parcial ao sugerir a expulsão #LiveCNNBrasil pic.twitter.com/fhduPzovM2
— CNN Brasil (@CNNBrasil) May 23, 2023
The federation added in a statement: "The competitions committee of the Spanish federation considers that the referee's evaluation was determined after omitting the entire incident, which ultimately affected his decision."
"He (the referee) was not informed of the facts, which prompted him to make his arbitrary decision because it was impossible for him to properly assess what happened."
Spanish police detained seven people earlier on Tuesday and charged them with various charges.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Vinicius Jr. ⚡️🇧🇷 (@vinijr)
Punishing Valencia
The Spanish federation also fined Valencia 45,5 euros, and closed the Mario Kempes South Stadium at the Mestalla Stadium for <> matches.
Real Madrid, who described the abuse as a "hate crime", filed a complaint with the Spanish prosecutor's office.
The federation added: "It has been confirmed, according to the referee in his report, that racist shouts were directed at Vinicius, Real Madrid's player, during the aforementioned match, which resulted in a change in the normal course of the match, and these violations were considered very serious."
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Valencia CF 🦇💯 (@valenciacf)
Valencia has the right to appeal to the federation's appeals committee within 10 working days, according to the British news agency PA Media.
La Liga players and officials have called for a crisis of racism to be addressed in the wake of Sunday's match that ended with Valencia winning with a clean goal.
Before Valladolid against Barcelona and Celta de Vigo against Girona on Tuesday, players as well as referees stood behind a banner that read "Racism, out of football".
During Valladolid's match against Barcelona, fans showed their support for Brazilian international Vinicius Jr.
Barca striker Rafinha took off his shirt during his substitution, to show a message of support for Vinicius, and the message said that "as long as skin color is more important than the radiance of the eyes, there will be wars."
Demonstration in the Spanish Consulate in São Paulo, in solidarity with the player Vini Jr, victim of racist attacks during a game.
© Paulo Lopes#racismo #vinijr #espanha #futebol #esporte #jogador #realmadrid #valencia #laliga #racism #viniciusjr #spain #football #sport pic.twitter.com/Qg9EAnNQXo
— Paulo Lopes (@plopesphoto) May 24, 2023
Demonstrations in support of Vinicius
Dozens of protesters gathered to demonstrate in front of the Spanish consulate in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, following the recent racist abuse of the Brazilian international.
The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported on Tuesday evening that participants in the demonstration chanted the phrase "LaLiga racism" and demanded action by the Spanish government.
Banners were held with the words "Vinicius Junior, we are with you" and "This is not football, this is racism".
Spanish police arrested seven people on Tuesday and are facing hate crime charges.
In a tweet, Brazilian international Vinicius, 22, accused La Liga of considering racism "normal".
– Brazilian President Lula da Silva stands in solidarity with Vinicius Jr.:
Poor boy triumphed in life, one of the best players in the world and Real Madrid, we will not allow racism to dominate the football stadiums . pic.twitter.com/LqTgyYRd75
👑🇧🇷 — Masters of the World 🇧🇷👑 (@Brazil_F9) May 21, 2023
La Liga president Javier Tebas rejected the accusation, saying nine incidents of racism had been reported to the courts during the season, with Vinicius Jr. being the victim in eight of those nine incidents.
The events of the match against Valencia quickly turned into a political issue.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and others have sharply criticized the abuse of the player.
⏯️ Details of what happened with Vinicius in the Valencia match
▪️ Abdulaziz Al-Sulaiti: A full season and Vinicius is subjected to racism.
▪️ Haitham Farouk: Vinicius injustice today #La Liga | #فالنسيا_ريال_مدريد #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/rLzqFSQA3l
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) May 22, 2023
A number of prominent politicians in Spain also condemned all forms of racism, but rejected Vinicius' suggestion that Spain is, in Brazil and elsewhere, a "country of racists."
In Brazil, some media and politicians have called on the Brazilian Football Confederation to postpone its plans to stage a friendly against an African team in Spain next month.