Abraham P. Romero Madrid

Madrid

Updated Monday, March 25, 2024-21:25

  • Racism Vinicius breaks down crying in Valdebebas: "I just want to play football"

In the press room of the

Valdebebas

sports city , surrounded by dozens of Spanish media,

80 Brazilians

and several internationals, in the same place that saw him land in the

summer of 2018

,

Vinicius Júnior

collapsed. In his tears,

everything came together for the

Madrid

and

Brazilian national team

forward : the

three years of racist insults

in various LaLiga stadiums, the

dozens of complaints

about it, the

pressure of the spotlight

and the celebration, this afternoon, of a

Spain-Brazil

with him as the center of the debate on both sides of the pond.

A situation that has left

Spain's image

in tatters, raising the concern of the

RFEF

and

LaLiga

, for whom this friendly is almost a "

matter of state

." «This match is a cry for equality and tolerance.

A complaint against racism

», announced yesterday the Federation, which has launched several campaigns against racism this week, such as LaLiga, taking advantage of the friendly match. But

how did we get here?

Camp Nou, 2021. The beginning

Everything changed on

October 24, 2021

, on matchday 10 of the League. Madrid

was winning 0-1 at the

Camp Nou and

Ancelotti

decided to withdraw Vinicius, who had played a colossal game. The Brazilian left on the opposite side of the benches and went around one of the backs. From that moment on, his situation was never the same. The winger received many racist insults, in addition to several objects being thrown. And he didn't shut up. He turned towards the stands and pointed to some fans. To the rest, upon seeing the consistency in the shouts, he showed them the score of the match.

That same week the first complaint was filed for racist insults to the player. Then those from

Mallorca

, the

Metropolitano

or

Valladolid

would arrive , archived because they did not represent "a crime against the dignity of the person." Then the doll would appear hanging on an

M-30

bridge , the return to

Mallorca

,

El Sadar

,

Benito Villamarín

, Camp Nou again... And more recently,

Mestalla

, where Vinicius stopped the match and directly accused two fans before being expelled. That action and that night were a turning point in his situation. The insults were no longer just a thing in Spain, they went around the world and became a global complaint.

Lula accuses Spain

Premier

footballers

,

stars of the NBA

and the

NFL

,

Formula 1

, actors, politicians... His case jumped across the pond and reached

Brazil

with force , where until then it had barely touched the sporting news. From there, in a country that had left

Bolsonaro behind and embraced

Lula

again

, Vinicius opened news programs and marked part of the political debate, always with increasingly harsh criticism of racism in Spain and in Spanish football. . "

We cannot allow fascism and racism to dominate the stadiums

," said Lula forcefully.

Jay-Z, Nike and Netflix

In summer, the case of Vinicius experienced a new turning point, in this case more media and business. The representation agency of the American rapper

Jay-Z

bought the agency that had the Brazilian,

Nike

convinced him to continue with the brand in the face of Puma's attempts to sign him and

Netflix

began the project of a documentary about his season, something that has been received with rejection by some clubs, such as Valencia. Those most critical of the footballer accuse him of using the fight against racism for his benefit, something that is not understood in Brazil.

The "worst" image of Spain

«The problem of racism is not just a problem in Spain, it is a global problem.

It is not something against Spain

. That's what you don't understand," admits Fernando Kallas, a Brazilian Reuters journalist. «In the stadiums of Brazil there is also racism, but they leave the field handcuffed. “What happened here?” asks Kallas. And the reality is that he is not the only one who does it. In the South American country, far from the daily sporting activities of LaLiga,

Spain's image is "the worst in a long time

," they admit from the Brazilian Confederation.

After the racist insults to Vinicius in the

Metropolitano

at

Atlético-Inter

, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry insisted on showing "its

concern

to the Spanish Government and its sports authorities for the repeated racist attacks", and the journalists who follow the

canarinha

, who They are always counted in dozens on each trip, these days they analyze the need that Spain has to "

wash its image after the insults

."

A friendly after the events of Mestalla

A wave of criticism that now lands in the Bernabéu friendly, managed after Vinicius' very harsh statement after the Mestalla insults: "

Today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists

." A phrase that reached everywhere and that fell heavily on the Government and the Federation, where there was a rush to close the friendly, whose agreement was reached in June. The party's motto speaks for itself: "

One skin, one identity

."

Meanwhile, Vinicius remains in the center of the spotlight, insulted, pressured and turned into a reference in the fight against racism. That's why he was chosen to speak yesterday, at Madrid's home, before the

Match against Racism

, with a black tarp behind him, different from the usual blue and white of the

seleçao

. Everything was important. He endured his speech until the

tears

stopped, leaving a video that spread across networks and newspapers: "

Vinicius collapses when talking about the racism he suffers in Spanish football

." He added fuel to the image of Spain.