Unfortunately, racism has been a frequent topic at Real Madrid press conferences this season. On Friday, Vinicius Junior was once again subjected to racial abuse in the form of monkey chants against Real Valladolid.
The Real Madrid forward has been the victim of several incidents this season, most notably against Atletico Madrid. However little to no action has been taken against the people involved or the clubs.
Speaking ahead of Real Madrid’s trip to Cacereno on Tuesday Carlo Ancelotti maintained his previous line on the matter – he did not want to get involved. The Italian told the press that he had not talked with Vinicius about it.
“I don’t have these talks, this is very clear. I’m not talking about a topic that doesn’t have to exist, racism and xenophobia. Focusing on it with Vini would be a mistake because it’s a problem of society that doesn’t have to exist. For me, there has to be zero tolerance on this issue.”
A second time it was put to him though, with the angle being more about the wider lack of action taken by either La Liga or even the police.
“I’m not going into this topic. As I said, it’s not a problem of the league but a general and cultural one. For me, society doesn’t have the education it needs to have. I won’t focus on Vinicius, the league or the sanctions. You have to think about something bigger. Racism and xenophobia are very serious issues.”
To a certain extent, Ancelotti has a valid point that these issues long-term will only be solved by education and a changing of attitudes.
Whether that means these incidents should go unpunished is another matter. There seems to be little appetite for any action at all, with the sum total so far being the suspension of three fans’ memberships at Atletico Madrid. This seems a ridiculous precedent to set for a workplace, where in an office, much more serious action would be taken if Vinicius had suffered even a slither of what he has been forced to endure so far.
