Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior has given evidence in a racism case, after he was abused during match against Valencia at Mestalla.
The match, which occurred in May, saw Vincius abused by fans making monkey sounds, which Vinicius then pointed out during the match. After an altercation with Giorgi Mamardashvili and Hugo Duro, Vinicius ended up being sent off.
The court case saw Vinicius give evidence against three people accused of racial abuse, where Marca say that Vinicius claimed the whole of Mestalla were racially abusing him. He also said that he felt a victim of racial abuse, while the judge has called on Eder Militao, his Real Madrid teammate, for further eye-witness accounts.
However things did not end there. Valencia have released a statement, once again condemning Vinicius, as they did at the time with Carlo Ancelotti, for generalising the accusation of racial abuse to the whole of Mestalla, rather than just those individuals.
They express their ‘surprise, rejection and indignation’ at his statements, and reference Ancelotti’s rectification a few days later that the whole stadium was not calling Vinicius a monkey. They once again demanded that Vinicius rectify his statements, saying that ‘racism has no place in football, nor in society, but that it cannot be combated with fallacies, nor unfounded lies.’
‘This matter requires the commitment of everyone and Valencia believes that all must be scrupulously correct and responsible with these types of declarations.’
This disagreement between both sides is set to rumble on, but Valencia do not host Real Madrid until early March. Valencia were quick to act and identify those guilty of racism, who are now standing trial. However it cannot be ruled out that there were more than that, even if not the whole stadium, and Valencia’s defensiveness on this matter has been louder than their condemnation of racism.