Valencia were scrapping for their lives against Real Madrid, in a victory which would be overshadowed by racism towards Vinicius Junior, but Los Che were using any means possible to stop him. Defender Eray Comert even used a ball to do so.
A rogue ball had been thrown onto the pitch, presumably by a ballboy, and was lying in the box, as Vinicius ran at Dmitri Foulquier. Comert, running back into the box to help, passed it with unerring accuracy and hit the ball in play at Vinicius’ feet.
La acción de Comert mientras progresaba Vinicius. #LaLiga #LaCasaDelFútbol pic.twitter.com/g0WPzVdiVu
— Fútbol en Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) May 21, 2023
Comert was given a booking, and Real Madrid awarded a free-kick, which had it been a a yard closer to goal, would have been a penalty.
MD highlight that Valencia could face a €3k fine for the incident, and their matchday delegate could have been sent off as a result. They could also face a (partial probably) stadium closure too, although this seems unlikely at the time of writing.
Last night Valencia defender Eray Comert brought a Real Madrid attack to an end in unusual fashion.
He used a rogue ball on the pitch to knock the ball in play away from Vinicius as he dribbled into the box.
Valencia could face sanctions for the incident, including crowd bans. pic.twitter.com/OXmEUDYjRU
— Football España (@footballespana_) May 22, 2023
What will cause many fans to wrinkle their noses is that there is harsher punishment in place for throwing a ball onto the pitch than there is for racism from the stands, at least for the clubs.
Much has been made of La Liga’s impunity when it comes to racism, even if they do not directly hand out sanctions and punishments for racial incidents.
However the fact that stadium closure is on the table for that, but not racism, does not look good in the eyes of many. The focus when it comes to abuse from the crowd is on identifying individuals, but there is clearly scope for wider and collective punishments.
