Vinicius Jr
LaLiga have filed a formal complaint with a court in Barcelona after Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior suffered racist abuse during Sunday’s 2-1 Clasico defeat at Camp Nou.
This is the eighth time LaLiga have reported racism aimed at Vinicius, who in December accused the Spanish top-flight of doing nothing about the insults he receives.
The Brazil forward is regularly being targeted at away stadiums, with LaLiga also filing complaints after Madrid played at Mallorca and Real Betis since the turn of the year.
“In view of the events that took place at the Barcelona-Real Madrid match, in which intolerable racist behaviour was once again observed against Vinicius, LaLiga has reported the racist insults to the Barcelona Court of Instruction,” LaLiga said in a statement yesterday.
Earlier this week, Mallorca revoked a fan’s membership card for three years after the supporter hurled racist insults at Vinicius and Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze in two separate incidents.
Last month, Real Valladolid suspended 12 season ticket holders for abusing Vinicius during a LaLiga match in December.
The growing wave of racist insults against the Madrid forward has escalated this year after a mannequin wearing his No. 20 shirt was hung from a bridge outside his club’s training ground in January before the derby against Atletico Madrid. Spanish police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
“Racists continue to go to stadiums and watch the biggest club in the world up close and LaLiga continues to do nothing,” Vinicius wrote on Twitter in December.
“I will continue with my head held high and celebrating my victories and those of Madrid.”
Since then, LaLiga have appeared to ramp up their campaign against racism, regularly taking action against the insults aimed at Vinicius.
In addition, they also set up a complaints channel to speed up the identification process, allowing fans who may have images or information about the identity of the perpetrators to contact them quickly.