Valencia have been in the middle of the storm following the racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior last Sunday. Los Che have felt harshly treated by the media and the international reaction, with coach Ruben Baraja has said the sanctions were overly harsh.
Defender Gabriel Paulista has received racial abuse on social media himself since the incident. Having secured a major win in the battle for relegation, Gabriel posted ‘Mestalla, you’re the best’ on his Instagram, and defended the club against accusations that the whole stadium had been chanting ‘monkey’ at Vinicius (tonto not mono).
📲 Valencia’s Gabriel Paulista posted on IG after the game: “Mestalla, you’re the best”
Later he responded: “The whole stadium calling a person 'silly' is very different from 'm**key'. If there was someone who was racist, they have to pay, yes. My post was for the victory, and… pic.twitter.com/iud9sk88eT
— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) May 22, 2023
Vinicius himself then received racial abuse on his Instagram accout, with similar insults to those directed at Vinicius on Sunday.
Gente o pior de tudo, que ele mesmo sofre racismo ( Gabriel Paulista).
Ele postou uma foto dele no Instagram, e olha os comentários de 15 semanas atrás. pic.twitter.com/GlVryjmYql— Bia Nunes (@biacardio) May 22, 2023
Several Valencia players have come out against racism since Sunday, including Mouctar Diakhaby, Yunus Musah and Giorgi Mamardashvili. The club also released a tweet in support of Gabriel, following consistent abuse directed towards the Brazilian-Spanish defender.
Nuestro capitán @gpaulista5, un ejemplo dentro y fuera del terreno. #Respect | #JUNTOSContraElRacismo pic.twitter.com/JzLDoflzBP
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf) May 23, 2023
Ahead of Valencia’s tie with Real Mallorca on Thursday, coach Ruben Baraja gave a two-minute speech on Sunday’s incidents and the rulings since, but did not take questions on the topic. Valencia co-operated to help authorities arrest three people abusing Vinicius, and have since expelled them for life from the club.
The RFEF have handed the club a five-game closure of the Mario Kempes stand though, and fined the club €45k. Valencia will appeal that decision and have also railed against Carlo Ancelotti’s statement after the match that the whole stadium was chanting monkey too, which Ancelotti corrected on Tuesday. Baraja again went to Valencia’s defence on Wednesday, as Marca report.
“I would like to say something that seems very important to me. Then I’m not going to talk about anything other than football. I, Ruben Baraja, as a Valencia coach and a person, absolutely condemn what happened in Mestalla against Real Madrid. I am absolutely against racism. We, as a club, have had and still have black players on our team and we have loved and respected them as people above all else.”
“I am not going to allow Valencia fans to be tagged as things that we do not deserve. Just as a player rebels against insults and I support that with all my forcefulness, we rebel against those who, during all these days since the game, have accused us of being what we are not.”
“I say this in the first person and as the coach of Valencia. Valencia, when the events occurred, acted immediately to put the situation in the hands of the law and comply with what is written. The sanction that the club has received seems disproportionate and unfair to me. From now on I’m only going to talk about tomorrow’s game.”
