Last weekend’s El Clasico showdown, which was won 4-0 by Barcelona, was marred by the latest case of racist abuse in Spanish football. Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Ansu Fati were reported to be targeted by a small number of Real Madrid supporters at the Santiago Bernabeu, and the matter is now being investigated.
Speaking to El Pais, Raphinha recounted his experience of the incident, and also explained why he and his Barcelona teammates did not report being abused at the time.
“We have already talked about it, each person is different. Of course it bothers you, we’re doing our job. We know that the fans of the other team can try to do everything so that things don’t go well for you and that we must be focused, but when they insult you and those insults take them elsewhere, it’s more complicated. I spoke to Ansu (Fati) afterwards and he told us what had happened to him. He was more upset. With Lamine we heard that they were telling us things, but we didn’t understand exactly what they were saying to us. But Ansu did understand. After the game, we watched the videos and that’s when we realised what they had told us.”
Vinicius Junior has been targeted frequently with racist abuse, and his response to this has often received backlash. Raphinha came to the defence of his international teammate.
“Of course I understand him. We don’t know what happened in his childhood. We don’t know the things he heard when he was little. These things push people to their limit and it bothers him a lot. Vinicius is a very smiling boy, he is always making jokes. The only issue that bothers him a lot is this, I understand his anger. But I’m not in his situation, so I can’t tell him what I would do instead.”
It’s clear that these cases of racism need to be eradicated, and more should be done to address the problem. It’s not solely a matter for Real Madrid, whose fans were the perpetrators on this occasion, but also the rest of Spanish football.