Real Madrid attacker Vinicius Junior has suffered further racial abuse, after footage was found of a Real Betis fans shouting ‘monkey’ at the Brazilian.
The Real Madrid star has been criticised heavily this season, by fans, players and press alike, and perhaps it is no coincidence that a sharp spike in racial abuse towards Vinicius has been seen too. The latest was Betis player Aitor Ruibal, who claimed that it was normal for people to insult Vinicius after the match, although at no point did he condone racist abuse.
In the 64th minute, as Dani Ceballos and Nacho Fernandez prepared to come on, Vinicius had the ball by the touchline waiting for the throw-in. On footage provided by El Golazo de Gol, a fan can clearly be heard shouting ‘monkey’ on two occasions.
This would be the eighth such incident recorded by La Liga, as they try to get to grips with what is now undeniably a serious issue for La Liga and Spanish football. In previous cases, fans have been fined €4k and been banned from sporting events for a year.
The continuing problems would suggest that perhaps the punishment needs to be increased in order to prevent fans from abusing Vinicius, ahead of what should be a far-reaching review of how race is dealt with in Spain.
