-
Alex KirklandESPN FC
LaLiga has filed a formal complaint with a court in Mallorca after Vinicius Junior was racially abused by a fan during Real Madrid‘s 1-0 league defeat to Real Mallorca on Sunday.
TV cameras picked up a fan shouting “Vinicius, you’re a monkey” during the game.
“After analysing the images and audio recorded from a position near the stands at San Moix, LaLiga has passed all all the information collected, together with the formal complaint, to the court in Palma de Mallorca, as well as to Real Mallorca, to allow them to take part in the proceedings,” LaLiga said in a statement on Tuesday.
This is the sixth time that the league have filed a complaint over racist insults or chanting aimed at Vinicius.
In three of those cases — after games away at Barcelona in October 2021, at Mallorca in March 2022 and at Atletico Madrid last September — prosecutors decided not to press charges.
Two formal complaints last month — after racist insults were aimed at Vinicius during a game at Real Valladolid, and a mannequin wearing the player’s shirt was hung from a bridge outside Real Madrid’s training ground — are still being processed.
“Racists continue to go to stadiums and watch the biggest club in the world, and LaLiga does nothing,” Vinicius tweeted in December.
The league’s president Javier Tebas called that accusation “unfortunate” and “unfair.”
ESPN reported on Monday that Vinicius feels that abuse from fans — as well as the way he is targeted for rough treatment by opposition players — has reached a critical point, with referees and the media playing a part in creating an atmosphere of tension around him.
On Tuesday, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told a news conference that Vinicius is “the victim” of “a Spanish football problem.”
“It seems like Vinicius is the problem, but the problem is what’s happening around Vinicius,” Ancelotti said. “It’s a problem we have to solve. It feels like he’s guilty, but he’s the victim.”