Real Madrid President Florentino Perez has spoken out against the racism suffered by star player Vinicius Junior, and demanded reform in the refereeing department at the same time.
Los Blancos have been active since Vinicius was abused again at Mestalla for a tenth time on Sunday night, emitting two statements, and beginning legal proceedings to investigate the case. Perez also met with Vinicius to express his support for the Brazilian.
Speaking as Real Madrid’s basketball side, which just won its 11th European title, celebrated their title, Perez told Marca that he wanted changes in the current system.
“In these moments, we must all demand zero tolerance against the mindlessness of racism, xenophobia and hate. Episodes like that we experienced on Sunday at Mestalla are causing a spectacular player like Vinicius to suffer. We will not tolerate any more racist incidents with our players. Vinicius is the victim. It’s a disgrace that some want to convert him into the guilty party for becoming one of the best players in the world, as the President of Brazil, Lula, said.”
“No we can’t go on like this in Spanish football, and those who should act against these actions with a strong response, are those who cannot allowed these unacceptable actions to continue, that destroy the image of our football in the rest of the world.”
“To do this, the refereeing structure must be changed so that the victim of the crime cannot be held responsible, as is happening now. We have a wonderful tool, that works very well, VAR. A tool that could be used to great effect, but has been used to convert the victim into the guilty, as happened on Sunday. And this we have suffered throughout the competition.”
👉 Florentino Pérez pide "tolerancia cero contra el racismo, la xenofobia y el odio". Recuerda el último episodio que ha sufrido Vinicius en Mestalla y apunta a los responsables de la competición y el VAR #RealMadrid pic.twitter.com/Ir6god3YI9
— MARCA (@marca) May 23, 2023
“The society we live in does not deserve the incidents that have been repeated with our player. Sport is a meeting point, of values.”
The word Perez used was structura – structure – which would indicate reform in the organisation itself, and perhaps a leadership change. That would be a more political move. Manager Carlo Ancelotti instead felt that the way to tackle the matter was with sanctions and drastic measures, even changing the racism protocol. Making that protocol stricter could reduce warnings or lead to games being stopped immediately after racist incidents, whereas Perez’s statements imply that he feels the way to instigate action is be changing the people in charge of those rules.
There is also a slight hint that the complaint is just as much about VAR as it is about racism too, which perhaps should have been saved for a other day.
