Brazil and Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior begs UEFA to fight and curb racism in the Champions League tournament. The talented Madrid forward took to social media to voice his concerns as he is a victim of racism from the spectators.
Junior calls on the European football governing body, UEFA to issue sanctions over racist chants about him by Atletico Madrid fans. The Selecao forward Vinicius was the target of chants by Atletico fans before their Champions League Last 16 match against Inter Milan on Wednesday night.
Real Madrid Star Begs UEFA to Issue Sanctions Over Racism
In a short and brief social media post, the Los Blancos star, replied to a post on X, formerly Twitter, about the chanting and wrote:
“I hope you have already thought about their punishment @ChampionsLeague @UEFA. It’s a sad reality that even happens in games where I’m not present!”
The 23-year-old urges the governing to look at the burning issue that continues to engulf the game of football.
While UEFA has not responded on the matter at this stage. Official reports from the match will be received and reviewed before any decision is taken regarding disciplinary action. This comes after Atletico fans engaged in racist chants towards Vinicius in the past, including at a Madrid derby in 2021. In the wake of such incidents, FIFA president Gianni Infantino met with Vinicius last summer after the player was a repeated target for racist abuse.
Infantino labelled racists as “criminals” and said football’s authorities had to “shoulder responsibility”. Last month Infantino called for a more joined-up approach to tackling racism in football and called on all of FIFA’s 211 member associations to take a united stance.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that Vinicius included the accounts for European football’s governing body and the Champions League in his post. In a statement, La Liga said it would report the incident even though the match was played in another competition and that the chants took place outside the stadium.
“La Liga is wholeheartedly committed to making football a hate-free space and will continue to work relentlessly to crack down on racism, homophobia, violence and hatred…whatever the competition.”
UEFA Yet to Respond to Vinicuis’ Call Against Racism
The call by the Brazil international comes as he has been racially abused on numerous occasions across Spain over the last three years.
They include Real’s derby win away over Atletico in September 2022, when Real Madrid rivals, Atletico condemned the chants by a section of fans towards Vinicius outside their stadium before the game. Last June, four men were fined 60,001 euros (£51,700) and given a two-year stadium ban for hanging an effigy of the players near Real’s training ground in January 2023.
In addition, three other people were fined 5,000 euros (£4,300) on the same day and banned for one year for making racist gestures during Real’s game at Valencia last May. This season there have been reports of more racist abuse towards Vinicius as Real played at Sevilla in October, at Barcelona the following week, and at Valencia earlier this month.
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