Carlo Ancelotti expressed his strong disapproval of racism following Vinicius Junior’s red card in the match against Valencia. The forward seemed to place blame on La Liga for the incident. Real Madrid suffered a 1-0 loss to the mid-table team, which puts their chances of securing third place in La Liga at risk, having trailed Barcelona in the second position for a significant part of the season.
However, Ancelotti made it clear that he was not interested in discussing football after witnessing Vinicius’ dismissal. In the closing moments of the game, the Brazilian forward appeared to have an altercation with Valencia’s Hugo Duro and subsequently made contact with him. Prior to that incident, Vinicius Jr. had pointed out at least one rival fan in the crowd, which created tension on the pitch.
Fans have repeatedly targeted Vinicius Jr. with racist abuse throughout this season, and Ancelotti implied that a similar incident had occurred again on Sunday. During an interview with Movistar, he stated that he had no interest in discussing the defeat and, when asked what he wanted to talk about, he responded, “About what happened here.” I think that’s more important. More important than a defeat, don’t you?
“I’m calm, but what happened today shouldn’t happen. For a stadium to shout “monkey” at a player and for a coach to think about taking him off for that… There’s something wrong with this league.”
Vinicius’ frame of mind
Asked about Vinicius’ frame of mind, Carlo Ancelotti added: “He didn’t want to play on. I told him that I didn’t think it was fair, it wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t to blame. He continued playing, and he also got a senseless red card. That said, we have a problem.
“For me, Vinícius is one of the best in the world. These episodes of racism can’t happen, it was the whole stadium, not just one person, as on other occasions. It has to be stopped. And I would say the same if we won 3-0.”
The Italian suggested that the answer to combat racism would be to stop matches.
Discussing the referee, Ancelotti said: “I told him he has to stop the match. He told me that the protocol says that you have to report it, but he has been insulted from the first minute.
“Stop the match. For me, it’s to stop the match. It’s clear that this can’t go on, it’s impossible. He is the player who receives the most fouls and the most insults.”
On Instagram, Vinicius Jr. wrote: “The prize that racists have won was my expulsion. It’s not football, it’s La Liga.”
