The reaction to the racial abuse suffered by Vinicius Junior last Sunday has brought action, reaction and controversy to Spanish football.
The Competition Committee sanctioned Valencia with a €45k fine and a five-game stand closure, something that was fought by Valencia, who appealed the ban.
There has been swathe reaction to these punishments in Spain, who say that the only reason action is being taken is because Real Madrid are involved, and have chosen to make a big deal of it.
Valencia defender Mouctar Diakhaby very much being evidence of this, the French defender neglected to stand behind the ‘united against racism’ banner, as a clear mark of disdain. Diakhaby alleged that Cadiz defender Juan Cala racially abused him, and received little support from La Liga or any other of the relevant authorities. Valencia were ready to walk off the pitch, but were reportedly told they would lose the three points if they did.
Ahead of the match, Real Mallorca fans posed outside the stadium with a banner reading ‘It’s not La Liga, it’s Florentino’ [Perez]. The image (via MD) was captured by Juanmi Sanchez. This of course is a play on the La Liga marketing campaign, ‘it’s not football, it’s La Liga’, which was quoted by Vinicius in his fuming about the abuse he has received. The phrase written on the banner has also been used on social media in recent days too.
“No es LaLiga, es Florentino”, pancarta de unos aficionados en Son Moix. pic.twitter.com/6EdhVEUmco
— Juanmi Sánchez (@JUANMISB97) May 25, 2023
There is no doubt the fact that Vinicius is a Real Madrid player, and the media pull the club has, have influenced the reaction to these incidents. Provided each club is treated equally going forward, surely most would agree that the issue is getting the attention it deserves.
I see two people and their opinions; opinions are like a.shoIes – everyone seems to have one.
Interesting that with all this VAR fuc.ery that has been going on and RM having record 17 VAR decisions against them and 9 overturned goals so far this season (as per ESPN) they feel like THIS particular decision is a proof of liga being Florentinos league.
Wonder who paid them to make absolute fo0Is of themselves.
The motivation is there, read it (if you can) also as per ESPN:
“The RFEF Competition Committee considers that the referee’s assessment was determined by the omission of the entirety of the play that took place, which affected the refereeing decision.”
“The fact that he [the referee] was deprived of a decisive part of the facts led him to adopt an arbitrary decision. And this is because it was impossible for him to properly assess what happened.”
Florentino Perez is defending his player, as he should. Valencia were sanctioned, as they should have been.
If someone has a problem with Real Madrid regarding other things it’s their right to say so, but the fact that Valencia were rightly punished for what happened shouldn’t be looked at as favoritism toward Real; it should be looked at as an embarrassment for Valencia, and something to learn from. If Tebas is finally shamed into paying attention and actually applying penalties across the board no matter who’s complaining, then it was a step in the right direction.