Valencia-based sports paper Superdeporte have once again tried to whip up the ire of the public against Vinicius Junior, which another incendiary front cover.
The Real Madrid star received the Socrates Award at the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday evening for his work leading the charge against racism in Spanish football, and his humanitarian work with children in Brazil.
During the montage leading up to his speech, it showed Vinicius at Mestalla, where one of the more egregious, albeit amongst many, incidents of racial abuse occurred. Valencia released an official statement criticising the Ballon d’Or, asking that the name of the club was not dragged through the mud.
Having previously released a cover comparing Vinicius to Pinocchio, their latest cover on Wednesday morning once again referenced Vinicius.
“Very sick of Pinochius.”
“The show from Vinicius and his lies continue to damage the image of Valencia and its fans on in an unjust manner.”
This dates back to Vinicius claiming that the whole of Mestalla were chanting ‘monkey’ at him, whereas the club allege that this was a small minority chanting racial abuse that were dealt with, and the rest were chanting ‘tonto’ – idiot.
Rodrygo Goes and Carlo Ancelotti had also made this mistake, but walked back on those statements. Regardless of what was said, Vinicius would have had nothing to do with the montage shown at the Ballon d’Or, and can hardly be blamed for that. During his speech, Vinicius did not mention Valencia, giving this cover a somewhat sinister edge.
“How dares he point out he was abused!”
But he didnt even mention you.
Uh uh… “sick of Vinicius lies.”