Vinicius Junior was justified in losing his cool when racism was addressed in Spanish football.
Throughout the entire season, Vinicius Junior has been the target of virulent racism, but nobody in Spain seems to be motivated to take action. In fact, the opposite is true.
It is understandable why he snapped. Vinicius Junior finally lost patience towards the conclusion of Real Madrid's La Liga match against Valencia on Sunday night. The forward has endured a stream of foul remarks all season, and at the conclusion of this most recent game, he was dismissed for pushing Valencia's Hugo Duro.
But if the Brazilian forward's remaining patience finally gave out at the conclusion of this specific game, it is entirely understandable. Another wonderful illustration of how everything came to a head had occurred a little more than 20 minutes earlier.
Vinicius chased down the left side with the ball at his feet and a marker on his shoulder as Valencia held a 1-0 lead. Eray Comert, a Valencia defender, saw a second ball on the field as Vinicius was cutting into the penalty area and appeared to purposely kick the second ball at Vinicius' running ball, knocking it out of play. Comert was arrested during the ensuing altercation, but the game was postponed for 10 minutes due to yet another instance of racial abuse from the crowd.
So, a scene that is all too often starts up again. a message read out over the stadium PA system. An impassioned conversation between a black athlete and the referee and his own coaching staff. There is a protracted delay while the almost completely useless protocol possible is implemented. The player who was being tackled ran out of patience and was dismissed in this case for resisting after being grasped by the neck.
Then, following the game, there is the customary cycle of blame-passing in which the player who has been the target of some fairly heinous abuse for the entirety of this season somehow finds himself being held accountable for the abuse that he keeps getting.
You half expect a commentator to spout, "Well, if he weren't so black in the first place, perhaps he wouldn't get so much abuse." Because it seems like quite a few government officials and media analysts in Spain would really like to say that every time anything similar occurs. It must be mitigated and minimized in addition to being dealt with in the least intrusive manner humanly possible.
Spain is not the only country doing this, it is true. It is also true that other European leagues, including the EFL and Premier League, have experienced racism-related problems. However, attempting to end this discussion by simply saying, "Physician heal thyself," is insufficient.
Spanish football must take real action about this, without any ambiguity at all, for moral and practical grounds, or it risk developing a reputation that will be very difficult to overcome.
Vinicius Junior stated on Instagram after the game: "The reward that racists have won was my banishment. It's La Liga, not football. That statement's second component is the
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Vinicius Junior was justified in losing his cool when racism was addressed in Spanish football.
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