LaLiga president Javier Tebas has become engaged in a war of words with Vinicius Junior on Twitter after the Real Madrid forward suffered racist abuse.
The match against Valencia was paused by the referee after Vinicius pointed out the supporters who were taunting him with ‘monkey’ chants to the referee. The Brazil international was visibly on the verge of tears on the pitch and was clearly incensed, with teammates attempting to quell his anger.
Vinicius was later sent off for violent conduct in added time of his side's 1-0 defeat following an altercation with Valencia striker Hugo Duro – the first red card of his career. Vinicius struck out at his opponent, who had him in a headlock but escaped punishment following a VAR review.
After the match, the forward took to Twitter to attack what he perceived to be inaction from the league over racism: “It wasn't the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga.
“The competition thinks it's normal, the Federation does too, and the opponents encourage it. I'm so sorry. The championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano and Messi today belongs to racists.
“A beautiful nation, which welcomed me and which I love, but which agreed to export the image of a racist country to the world. I'm sorry for the Spaniards who don't agree, but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists. But I am strong and I will go to the end against racists. Even if far from here.”
That was then responded to by Tebas, who launched an impassioned defence of the league’s stance while also claiming Vinicius needed to ‘properly inform’ himself.
“We have tried to explain to you what LaLiga is and what it can do in cases of racism, but you have not shown up to either of the two agreed dates that you yourself requested,” Tebas wrote. “Before criticising and insulting LaLiga, you need to inform yourself properly Vinicius.”
Tebas added: “Don’t let yourself be manipulated and make sure you understand the work we have been doing together.”
Vinicius replied, again making the demand for action to be taken on racism: “Once again, instead of criticising racists, the president of LaLiga appears on social media to attack me. As much as you talk and pretend not to read, the image of your championship is shaken. See the responses to your posts and have a surprise.
“Omitting yourself only makes you equal to racists. I'm not your friend to talk about racism. I want actions and punishments. Hashtag doesn't move me.”
On Monday morning, Tebas responded over social media once again: “1) Neither Spain nor LaLiga are racist, it is very unfair to say that. 2) From LaLiga we denounce and persecute racism with all the harshness within our powers. 3) This season racist insults have been reported 9 times (8 of them have been for insults against vini) We always identify the madmen and file the complaint with the sanctioning bodies. It doesn't matter how few they are, we are always relentless.
“4) We cannot allow the image of a competition that is above all a symbol of union between peoples to be tarnished, where more than 200 black players in 42 clubs receive the respect and affection of all the fans every day, bringing racism an extremely specific case (9 complaints) that we are going to eradicate.”
