Valencia deny Mestalla access to Vinícius documentary team

The crew filming a documentary on Vinícius Júnior were denied access to Valencia's Mestalla this weekend for the player's first match at the stadium since he was the victim of racist insults from the share of supporters last season.

Vinícius was sent off during Real Madrid's 1–0 La Liga defeat at the Mestalla on May 21, 2023, having already suffered racist insults from the crowd.

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Three people were accused of racist abuse during the match, with Vinícius giving evidence via video link in the ongoing case last October.

A Brazilian team – working on behalf of the streaming service Netflix – has been filming a documentary on Vinícius in recent months and had requested accreditation to attend the player's return to the Mestalla on Saturday.

This request was rejected by Valencia, La Liga president Javier Tebas confirmed on Tuesday.

“These are decisions that the club makes and they are very difficult to make,” Tebas said.

“They decided not to let the production company in. I absolutely have to respect that. They are more involved in the daily situation in Valencia, and for those of us who are far away, we can give our opinion on it .the situation would be a bit daring on our part.

“I think so [not allowing access to the production company] is a precautionary measure. In fact, I'm going to participate in the documentary and do an interview.”

Sources told ESPN that the documentary team was not given a reason for the denial of its accreditation request.

They are now considering what steps to take, sources said, including whether to film interviews around the match outside the stadium, although there were some concerns about the team's safety, given the tensions surrounding this issue.

Valencia reacted angrily to accusations that racist abuse against Vinícius was widespread around Mestalla.

The club threatened legal action after the Brazilian's teammate Rodrygo Goes echoed earlier comments by Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and said “the whole stadium” had been involved.

Vinícius and Rodrygo both scored twice when the two clubs met earlier this season, in Madrid's 5-1 win at the Bernabéu on November 11.

Reporting from ESPN's Adriana Garcia and Gustavo Hofman contributed to this report.