Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez refused to be drawn on the lifting of Vinicius Junior’s sanction on Tuesday night, but did seem a touch confused by the ruling.
Ahead of Barcelona’s trip to Real Valladolid, Xavi had told the media that measures had to be taken to combat the consistent racial abuse suffered by Vinicius.
On Tuesday evening, the RFEF Competition Committee revealed that Vinicius would not serve a ban for his red card against Valencia, alleging that the referee was not supplied sufficient images to make his decision. Speaking to MD, after Barcelona were beaten by Real Valladolid, Xavi Hernandez refused to be drawn too much on the incident.
“Don’t know. It is a question for the Competition Committee. I have no opinion. I have already made clear what I think about acts of racism, and in this I cannot get involved.”
“There was an aggression and that is undeniable,” he did admit.
The decision to rescind a sanction for Vinicius’ red card has been met with controversy in Spain, with many failing to understand why a justified red card was not punished. There is an argument that Hugo Duro should be punished too, but instead the RFEF have decided not to punish either, beyond the final stages of the game Vinicius missed.
More importantly, and more damaging for Spain, the narrative has shifted from tackling racism to whether Real Madrid receive different treatment from other teams – one is obviously significantly more important than the other.
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