Vinicius Jr prompts La Liga into U-turn as red card rescinded

Vinicius Jr has had the red card he received against Valencia overturned by the Spanish FA after receiving racist abuse during Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat at the Mestalla on Sunday. Valencia have been ordered to close the Mario Kempes stand for five matches as a result of the abuse with the club also fined £40,000 for the ‘very serious offences’ of their fans.

Vinicius was sent off in stoppage time after reacting angrily to Valencia’s Hugo Duro during Sunday’s match with the decision made following a VAR check.

Replays showed that Vinicius had pushed Valencia striker Duro in the face after the Spaniard had seemed to grab the Madrid attacker around the neck. But the Spanish striker received no punishment with on-field referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea not shown the events which lead to the Brazil international’s reaction.

He was set to receive a ban that would see him miss the rest of the season but he will now be available for selection again after the decision was overturned. VAR on the day, Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva, has also been stood down for the time being. 

Vinicius received horrendous racist abuse from some parts of the Mestalla during the encounter with monkey chants heard. After the game, the Brazilian called out La Liga and the Spanish FA (RFEF) for not taking the issue seriously enough with the incidents in Valencia the tenth time he had been racially abused this season.

However, his comments were not initially well received with La Liga President Javier Tebas suggesting he had not done enough to inform himself on the situation prompting a furious response worldwide.

However, two days later the RFEF have taken action, forcing Valencia to close the offending Mario Kempes stand for five games and fining the club £40,000 for the actions of their fans. 

Valencia can file an appeal and would have 10 days to do so. 

Announcing the decision an RFEF statement read: “The Competition Committee has sanctioned Valencia CF with the partial closure of the Mestalla stadium for five matches, more specifically of the south stand Mario Kempes, following the events which took place during the Primera Division National League Championship match between the home team and Real Madrid CF.

“It is considered proven that, as reflected by the referee in his report, there were racist shouts at Vinicius, a Real Madrid CF player, during the aforementioned match, disrupting the normal course of the match and considering the offences to be very serious. In addition, a financial penalty of 45,000 euros was imposed on Valencia.” 

The football world has come together in support of the 22-year-old as a stand of solidarity for the racist abuse he suffered. 

Raphinha removed his shirt as he was substituted during Barcelona’s 3-1 defeat at Real Valladolid to reveal a quote which Vinicius has tattooed on his skin. It read: “As long as the colour of the skin is more important than the glow of the eyes, there will be war.”

The RFEF has also launched a campaign under the slogan ‘Racists, out of football’, which aims to eradicate racist and xenophobic attitudes from football by raising awareness among fans that discriminatory insults or attitudes will not be tolerated.