On Sunday the Madrid derby was once again marred by racial abuse, after an 8-year-old girl was abused outside the Metropolitano on the way to the game. Her aunt claims it has put her off going to football games.
Silvia, the aunt, was taking her niece to the Madrid derby, who was wearing a Vinicius Junior shirt, and were on their way to their gate.
“We were walking around the Civitas Metropolitano; there was a gathering of the Frente Atletico and we stayed to watch it. I’ve been a member of Atletico since I was born. And they started singing ‘Vikingo, no’, ‘monkey’, ‘black s***’. And at first I swear to you that we didn’t know it was because of us. I even looked back thinking that they were saying about ‘Vikings’ outside to some group of kids who were passing behind.”
“I would never have imagined that it was because of the girl. Until a lad came up to me and hit me on the arm. ‘Get out of here or we’re going to kill the fucking girl.’ Well, well. Lots of insults and everything. And then you look up and see a lot of people, a very large crowd of people pointing at the girl, insulting the girl, singing at the girl,” Silvia told Cadena SER.
In the aftermath, she explained that her niece suffered nightmares following the incidents.
“She had a terrible anxiety attack. I got her out of there as soon as possible while she covered the badge and the shirt. The first night she woke up several times thinking they were coming for her. She had a lot of nightmares. She doesn’t know why everything happened. She told me to please not take her to a stadium again.”
Silvia herself found it especially harrowing, being an Atletico fan.
“It has been difficult for me to report this because it is my team, but I do not share the violence. I ask them to be much more vigilant and to stay away from family areas. I am very much an Atleti fan, it is a feeling and those from the other day are not Atleticos. These people stain football and Spanish sport. We have to get them out of there. Atleti has apologised to me and told me that they will do everything possible to solve it.”
La Liga have gathered evidence on the matter, and are set to report the incident to the Anti-Violence Committee, who will then decide the next step. Last season, racial abuse resulted in a partial stadium ban at Valencia, while individuals outside of the stadium were charged after a racist banner ahead of a Real Mallorca-Real Madrid match. It is only last season that a number of Atletico Madrid fans were seen singing ‘Monkey’ at Vinicius, the beginning of a series of racially charged attacks on the Brazilian star.
