Gary Lineker has hit out at the treatment of Vinicius Junior after the Real Madrid star was once again targeted by racist abuse in LaLiga.
Lineker was hosting the coverage of Sunday night’s LaLiga derby clash between Sevilla and Real Betis on LaLigaTV – the league’s in-house TV channel, which is broadcast internationally including in the UK.
The Seville derby took place after Real Madrid’s defeat at Valencia, which was overshadowed by racist abuse aimed at Vinicius. The match was paused by the referee after the Brazil international pointed at supporters in the stands who were goading him with disgusting ‘monkey chants’.
In emotional scenes, Vinicius was seen on the verge of tears due to the nature of the vitriol aimed at him from the stands. Many of his Real Madrid teammates attempted to comfort him and calm him down.
Vinicius was later sent off for violent conduct in added time of his side's 1-0 defeat following an altercation with Valencia striker Hugo Duro – the first red card of his career. Vinicius struck out at his opponent, who had him in a headlock but escaped punishment following a VAR review.
Lineker was not in a position to comment on the incidents as he was not able to watch the match due to working pitchside on the evening game which followed it. However, he took to Twitter on Monday to share his thoughts on the incident and how it was handled.
The BBC Match of the Day presenter quote tweeted Rio Ferdinand, who had said of the incident: “How many times do we need to see this young man subjected to this s***?” Ferdinand had tagged FIFA, UEFA and LaLiga in the tweet, alongside an Instagram post claiming that Vinicius was not being protected.
Lineker agreed with Ferdinand’s sentiments, and added, referencing the red card shown to Vinicius at Valencia: “Once again, the player being abused is the only person to be punished.”
Vinicius said the Spanish top-flight, that once "belonged" to star players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, now "belongs to the racists".
The racist chants directed at Vinicius were condemned by Brazil's President Lula da Silva at the G7 summit held in Japan. He called on LaLiga and FIFA to "take measures so we don't allow racism and fascism to take over".
Lula also highlighted how Vinicius was "insulted in every stadium he goes to" – Sunday’s match was the tenth Real Madrid away match of the season when the league has had to report opposition fans to the local courts for racist chants against the forward.
