It was a day to forget for LaLiga, Valencia, Real Madrid, and Vinicius Jr, the Brazilian was racially abused by Valencia fans to the point that tears began to flow from his eyes and was red carded by the referee to boot in a ridiculous display by LaLiga. Not only that but LaLiga’s president Javier Tebas’ statement following the incident only left LaLiga looking worse.
The images from Estadio de Mestalla have circled the globe and have left Valencia looking horrible as the club fights to stay out of relegation. Things got so heated between Vinicius Jr and Javier Tebas after the fact that FIFA has stepped in and shown their support towards the Real Madrid star.
So disgusted was Real Madrid by what happened that head coach Carlo Ancelotti was not interested in taking any questions after his side’s 1-0 defeat. Here is FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s statement on what happened.
FIFA president issues statement on racist chants towards Vinicius Jr
“Full solidarity to Vinicius. There is no place for racism in football or in society and FIFA stands by all players who have found themselves in such a situation. Events during the match between Valencia and Real Madrid show that this needs to be the case.”
The statement continued, “That is why the three-step process exists in FIFA competitions and it is recommended at all levels of football. Firstly, you stop the match, you announce it. Secondly, the players leave the pitch and the speaker announces that if the attacks continue, the match will be suspended.
“The match restarts, and then, thirdly, if the attacks continue, the match will stop and the three points will go to the opponent. These are the rules that should be implemented in all countries and in all leagues.
“Clearly, this is easier said than done, but we need to do it and we need to support it through education.”