They will answer for the monkey – Kommersant

The loudest state of emergency associated with racism occurred this season in Spain. His central figure turned out to be the famous Brazilian striker of Real Madrid Vinicius, who was insulted by fans during the match with Valencia and, pissed off, earned him a removal. After the game, the footballer, who had repeatedly complained about racism and did not wait for a severe punishment for at least one of the alleged offenders, said that this was a “normal” phenomenon in the Spanish championship. This time, however, the investigation into the incident is likely to be much more thorough, given the resonance it caused in the football community, and the strong reaction to the Valencian events of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the head of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino.

The scandal, in the center of which was the striker of the Brazilian national team Vinicius, broke out shortly after the end of the Sunday match of the 35th round of the championship of Spain. In it, Valencia beat Real Madrid 1-0 at home, which lost the second line after Barcelona, ​​which secured the championship title, in the Atlético standings. However, the main news item after this meeting was not the failure of the Madrid team, which may have deprived them of silver, but the situation with the team’s leading striker.

The official report of the chief referee of the match, Ricardo De Burgos Bengoechea, recorded “racist insults” from the “spectator from the south stand” of the Mestalla stadium, “aimed at Vinicius”.

The judge clarified that we are talking about the cries of “Monkey! Monkey!”. Because of them, the referee was forced to apply the protocol provided for in such cases.

The game was stopped for about ten minutes, and the stadium announcer warned the fans over the loudspeaker against insults.

True, Vinicius himself, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, other club players and many eyewitnesses claim that, in fact, racist insults against the Brazilian were constantly heard during the match and by no means only from the spectator from the south stand. According to them, there was a collective chanting. As a result, Vinicius, pissed off, began to behave on the field not quite adequately, and in stoppage time he earned a removal for hitting Hugo Duro in the face.

Subsequent events only exacerbated the situation. After the match, Vinicius made an extremely harsh statement on his Twitter account. In it, he actually accused La Liga – the structure that unites top division clubs – of condoning racism. According to Vinicius, he turned into a “normal phenomenon” in her.

The forward added that the La Liga, once “owned” by superstars such as Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, is now “owned by racists”.

Vinicius had some reasons for such statements. The fact is that over the past two years, he has repeatedly complained about the manifestation of racism towards himself on the part of both rivals and fans. The most recent case dates back to March of this year. Then the Mallorca fans loudly advised the attacker to “collect bananas.”

Real Madrid informed that it had requested to look into the incident to the department of the Spanish Prosecutor General’s Office, which is responsible for crimes motivated by hate and discrimination. La Liga, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and Valencia all vowed to investigate Sunday’s incident, issuing similar statements condemning racism. However, Vinicius has already made it clear that he does not trust these promises too much. In particular, he attacked the head of La Liga, Javier Tebas, who, according to the striker, “prefers criticism” of the Brazilian in the fight against racism. The football player meant the passive behavior of the functionary and his organization during previous scandals and Mr. Tebas’s hints that they are generated in many respects by Vinicius’s provocative style of play and his individual actions on the field – like mocking dances. Moreover, a day after the incident at Mestalla, Javier Tebas actually accused the Brazilian of slander via Twitter, saying that La Liga “pursues racism with all the severity within its competence” and that the player had previously ignored meetings scheduled in connection with his complaints twice. .

However, apparently, this time the investigation will be carried out much more thoroughly than before. The fact is that the state of emergency in Valencia caused a huge resonance.

Public support for Vinicius has already been expressed by many football celebrities such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Rafael Lean. But more importantly, the scandal got far beyond the boundaries of the football community.

For example, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke about him at a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. He urged not to let “racism and fascism take over the sport”, assuring the public of “solidarity with the young black Brazilian player”.

No less harsh was the reaction of FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Commenting on the incident with Vinicius, he noted that “racism has no place in football and in society”, once again emphasizing that FIFA’s anti-racism protocol, which involves not only the suspension, but also the cancellation of matches, must be applied without hesitation in all competitions.

Alexey Dospekhov