The latest incident of racist abuse towards Real Madrid striker Vinicius Jr has been reported to the Spanish prosecutor’s office as a hate crime, the club said.
After the match, in which the 22-year-old Brazilian international was later sent off for violent behaviour, he said “La Liga belongs to racists”.
Real Madrid issued a statement on Monday saying it “considers that such attacks are also hate crimes”.
Spanish prosecutors will now decide whether to pursue a criminal investigation.
“Real Madrid shows the strongest opposition and condemns the events that happened yesterday against our player Vinicius Junior,” the club said.
“These facts constitute a direct attack on the coexistence model of our social and democratic state of law.”
Vinicius was the target of racist abuse several times during this period.
La Liga said in a statement that it would investigate and take “appropriate legal action” if it became aware of a hate crime, calling on people to submit any relevant footage.
BBC Sport understands that the two fans who racially abused Vinicius have been identified and are expected to be handed a permanent ban from Valencia’s stadium.
Vinicius and Tebas Twitter row
Writing on social media after the match, Vinicius said: “The championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano and Messi now belongs to racists.”
He exchanged messages with La Liga president Javier Tebas.
Writing on Twitter, Tebas said that Vinicius twice did not show up for a meeting to discuss what it “could do in cases of racism”.
“Before you complain and slander La Liga, you need to inform yourself properly,” said Tebas.
Vinicius criticized the post for targeting him instead of “racists”, saying he wanted La Liga to take “actions and punishments”.
Then Tebas replied: “Neither Spain nor La Liga are racist, it’s unfair to say that.
“This season racist incidents have been reported nine times (eight of them for insults against Vinicius). We always identify those responsible and file complaints with the sanctioning bodies. It doesn’t matter how many they are, we are always relentless. .”
The racist abuse that Vinicius has to deal with this season
- September 2022 – Some Atletico Madrid fans chanted racist chants towards Vinicius outside their Wanda Metropolitano stadium before they played Real Madrid in September 2022. Atletico Madrid later condemned the “unacceptable” chants to a “minority” of fans
- September 2022 – Some Spanish pundits criticized Vinicius’ goal celebration, where he danced through the corner flag. He answered by saying that “the happiness of a black Brazilian in Europe” is behind the criticism
- December 2022 – Vinicius was apparently subjected to racist abuse at Valladolid as he walked out to the fans after being substituted. La Liga said it was filing charges related to the racist abuse of Vinicius to the “relevant judicial, administrative and sporting bodies”
- January 2023 – An effigy of the Real Madrid winger hangs on a bridge near the club’s training ground before the match against Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey. Atletico said the incident was “unfortunate”
- February 2023 – Mallorca fans were filmed allegedly racially abusing the Brazilian during the match against Real
- March 2023 – La Liga said that “intolerable racist behavior was once again observed against Vinicius” in a match against Barcelona and it reported the racist insults to the Barcelona Court of Instruction.
- May 2023 – Vinicius suffered racist abuse against Valencia