March 20 – Real Madrid have filed a complaint against the referee who took charge of the team’s recent 4-2 La Liga win at Osasuna for “the negligent drafting” of his report about the match following yet more abuse meted out to Vinicius Jr. by home supporters.
The Brazilian, who scored twice, has been the target of racist abuse on multiple occasions while playing in Spain and Real say the latest “insults and vexatious shouts” were “deliberately” not included by referee Juan Martinez Munuera.
Osasuna have denied there were any racist chants from their fans but Real have demanded “necessary measures be taken” to “eradicate” the abuse.
“The referee voluntarily and deliberately omitted the insults and vexatious shouts directed repeatedly towards our player Vinicius Jr, despite his attention being drawn to them continually by our players as they were happening,” Real fumed.
Last week the club asked prosecutors to investigate reported racist chants targeting the Brazil international outside the stadiums of both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona before their respective Champions League games.
“Real Madrid once again condemns these violent attacks of racism, discrimination and hate and demands that measures finally be taken in order to eradicate the violence to which our player Vinícius Júnior has been subjected,” the club said.
Vinícius has been relentlessly targeted by racist slurs during away games in Spain, especially in the last two seasons.
Osasuna acknowledged that a minority of their fans aimed insults at Real players but insisted they “had no racist references”.
“Given the information published in the media after Real Madrid’s press release, which presents El Sadar [stadium] with racist behaviour, Osasuna wants to clarify that no racist chants were uttered [during] Saturday’s match,” Osasuna said.
“The club will not tolerate the tarnishing of the reputation of the Osasuna fans, who, throughout its history, have been known for their anti-racist stance.”
Nevertheless in one video aired on Spanish TV and shared on social media, chants of ‘die Vinícius, die’ can clearly be heard in the stadium, leading Real captain Dani Carvajal to turn to the referee and point to his ear in an apparent attempt to make Martínez Munuera aware of the abuse.
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