LaLiga probing racial abuse aimed at Vinicius Jr. in Clásico

LaLiga investigates racist abuse targeting Real Madrid striker Vinícius Júnior during his team’s 2-1 win The classic defeat Barcelona at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

The league has been in contact with Vinícius’ camp, sources told ESPN, and is working with police to identify the perpetrators.

“LaLiga has worked from the beginning to identify individuals involved in racist insults and will file complaints, as is always the case,” the league said in a statement.

“We coordinate with the Mossos d’Esquadra [Catalan police] and FC Barcelona.”

Barca said it would cooperate with the investigation.

“Barcelona will always defend the values ​​of football and sport such as respect for the opponent and we will investigate any racist insults that may have occurred this afternoon during the match against Real Madrid,” the Catalan club said in a brief communicated.

According to footage shared on social media, the incident appears to have happened when Vinícius was substituted at the end of the second half.

Carlo Ancelotti replaced him shortly after Jude Bellingham scored his second goal of the match as Madrid came from a goal down to beat Barça, who had taken an early lead through Ilkay Gündogan.

The victory put Madrid back at the top of La Liga, level on points with Girona and four clear of Barça, who remain third in the table.

Vinícius has repeatedly been the target of racist insults from opposition supporters in Spain, including last week when Madrid faced Sevilla.

After that match, the Brazilian praised Sevilla for acting quickly after his expulsion and reported a fan to the authorities for racist insults.

“There is no place for racist or hateful behavior in sports,” the league said after that game. “LaLiga vehemently condemns any racist acts and will continue to work to eradicate this inexcusable behavior from our sport.”

Earlier this month, Vinícius gave evidence at the trial of three Valencia fans accused of racist abuse against him during a match at the end of last season.

It was one of eight incidents documented and reported by La Liga during the 2022-23 campaign of racist abuse targeting Vinícius.

Although the incident at the Mestalla stadium was the subject of a trial, in a number of cases local prosecutors chose not to file charges.