On Wednesday, Real Madrid star Rodrygo was speaking to the media whilst on international duty with Brazil, and he spoke on the racism incident involving Vinicius Junior and a handful of Valencia supporters during last month’s match at the Estadio Mestalla.
Rodrygo stated that he heard the entire home crowd yelling “mono” (monkey) at Vinicius, to which Valencia responded, calling the 22-year-old’s claims “categorically false”, whilst also demanding an apology.
Taking to Twitter, Rodrygo has now answered back to Valencia, in which he states that he initially referred to only a small minority of fans that abused Vinicius, rather than the entire stadium.
“My utmost respect to the fans and to Valencia CF. Just as in the same press conference I indicated that Spain is not a racist country, I wanted to refer only to those people in the stadium who behaved badly towards Vini, at no time to the entire stadium.
“I understand football as a sport where play, joy, respect, sportsmanship prevail, an example of values, friendship, camaraderie and peaceful coexistence. I am here with my National Team to fight against racism. It is time to end racism. It is not enough to condemn. You have to act. No to racism.”
Mi máximo respeto a la afición y al Valencia C.F. Así como en la misma conferencia de prensa indiqué que España no es un país racista, me quise referir sólo a aquellas personas del estadio que tuvieron un mal comportamiento con Vini, en ningún momento a toda la afición.…
— Rodrygo Goes (@RodrygoGoes) June 15, 2023
The incident at the Mestalla was just one of several that Vinicius had to deal with during the 2022-23 season, and FIFA have since announced that they want the Real Madrid star to help them address the issue of racism.
