Valencia have demanded that Real Madrid and Brazil star Rodrygo Goes rectify his statements made about Mestalla. On Wednesday, he had remarked that he heard the whole of Mestalla calling Vinicius Junior a monkey.
These comments refer back to an incident in May where Vinicius Junior was racially abused by members of the crowd at Mestalla, three of whom have since been arrested.
After the match, Carlo Ancelotti claimed that the whole stadium had chanted ‘monkey’ at Vinicius, but then a few days later clarified that it was only a group of fans, and apologised.
However on international duty with Brazil, Rodrygo spoke about the incident, saying that Spain as a whole was not racist, but did admit that he received racial abuse too, and also said that ‘the whole stadium was shouting monkey at him’.
Valencia have demanded that Real Madrid's Rodrygo Goes rectify his statements.
On Wednesday, the Brazilian stated that he heard the whole stadium chanting 'monkey' at Vinicius Junior when the two clubs clashed at Mestalla. #HalaMadrid #VCF pic.twitter.com/4GDzPRDWjA
— Football España (@footballespana_) June 15, 2023
Valencia have reacted strongly to these words, and called for a rectification from Rodrygo. They call his words ‘categorically false’, ‘serious lies’ and accused Rodrygo of ‘stigmatising an exemplary fanbase.’
They go on to say that they will consider legal action if Rodrygo does not retract his statements.
Certainly the strong reaction to Rodrygo’s, and previously Carlo Ancelotti’s, statements is understandable. Any club would likely do the same. However it has played poorly in the international media that Valencia, and before them La Liga President Javier Tebas, appeared more concerned with defending reputations rather than condemning the racism.
Full statement:
Valencia CF categorically reject the false statements made by the player Rodrygo Goes, in which he said that the entirety of Mestalla participated in racist chants towards his teammate.
Such statements are serious lies that contribute to stigmatising an exemplary fanbase in a completely unfair way.
Just like his coach, Carlo Ancelotti, who corrected his statements after the game, we ask Rodrygo Goes to also correct these false statements. Valencia CF reserve the right to take the appropriate legal measures to defend the honour of our club and fans.
Also, we must ask the players to have rigour and responsibility when making statements.
Once again, we want to emphasise our strongest condemnation of any type of racism or violence, as demonstrated by the lifetime ban for the three fans involved in this unfortunate incident. There is no doubt about our commitment to eradicating this scourge on society.
Likewise, we ask for the utmost respect for our fans and that they not be attacked with false information and hoaxes.
TOGETHER AGAINST RACISM.
RESPECT FOR OUR FANS.
Image via Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images
Who is lying here? Isn’t this the same club that tried to first say that the fans were chanting something else and it only sounded like “Mono”? Ancelotti only retracted the statement because he realised that he represented RM. Three fans cannot make a chant like an entire stadium so enough with this BS. Threatening and attacking anyone that mentions the obvious racist behaviour is getting annoying and very transparent. I hope someone stands up to this and takes it to court… let them roll the video showing all of us what actually happened that dark day. Interesting that foreign owner Lim and no. 2 Murthy got to watch this – must have been uneasy to say the least. That land was once Al-Andalus – a model of racial tolerance. The lines “TOGETHER AGAINST RACISM. RESPECT FOR OUR FANS” is an irony considering what the fans did. So where does the “scourge on society” actually live ? We would have respected an honest acknowledgement of the situation… only then can a solution arrive – this behaviour just shows how it got to this point. Deeply disappointing.
I’m assuming that you haven’t been to a match in Spain. They chant Tanto when a player is acting like a jerk (similar to the asshole chant at games in the US). Most fans there are Vini acting towards fans without knowledge that a fan made a racial slur close to the pitch. The stadium chanted “Tanto”.
There were racist fans but the stadium was not changing mono.
No I haven’t watched a match in Spain. Thanks for identifying the other word (“Tanto”). This only makes the situation more vague. “Tanto” and “Mono” would sound completely different – were you at that particular game? Also, it doesn’t make any sense for the crowd to single out Vini Jnr to call him a jerk. If this is a convenient excuse to cover up dirt then once again, deeply disappointing. I would rather lose to a superior opponent than lose my honour.
I have been.
Are you alluding to the word “tonto”? I have no idea what tanto means. Most likely a typo.
Tonto is pronounced with hard Ts and sounds nothing like mono.
To me its hilarious that Valencia spent more time on battling people who “didnt give a precise number on exactly HOW MANY (+-0) people chanted mono” instead of battling the obvious problem they have amongst their fan corps.
Also, they complained about them being targeted while 7 other clubs got away with murder. A logical assumption would be to implement measures to proactively prevent such incidents if they see that a trend is rising against Vinicius, sending mail to season ticket holders asking for normal behaviour, informing people on fan forums etc.
There is really a lot of things you can do.
Now they have been caught with their pants down, while doing nothing to prevent it and now they are sad because of inhumane treat… lets cut the crap, its because they lose money.