The Spanish football league on Thursday condemned the racist insults aimed at Real Madrid striker Vinicius just before Madrid’s debacle on Wednesday against Albacete (3-2) in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey.
“La Liga condemns all racist insults. On and off the pitch, there is no room for hatred,” the body wrote on social media, accompanied by the slogan “LaLiga. The strength of our football against racism.”
In a video relayed in particular by As, we can see a group of Albacete supporters, massed around the Carlos Belmonte stadium before the match, singing racist chants targeting the Brazilian Real striker.
“It’s shameful”
Albacete, a lowly ranked Spanish 2nd division, then eliminated Real Madrid, a scathing defeat in the first match as coach of Alvaro Arbeola who replaced his ex-teammate Xabi Alonso on Monday.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was outraged on Wednesday evening by this sequence by posting images of the incident on social networks with this comment: “Stop racism! It’s shameful.”
This is not the first time that Vinicius has been the victim of such behavior in Spain.
In May 2025, five Valladolid supporters were sentenced to one year in prison, “a historic sentence” as La Liga called it at the time, after insulting the player in December 2022.
A month later, four members of the ultra group Frente Atlético, who had hung an effigy wearing Vinícius’ jersey in January 2023 before a derby, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14 to 22 months.
They finally reached an agreement transforming these penalties, notably into fines.
