La Liga president Javier Tebas hopes Vinicius Junior will not leave the Spanish top flight despite the Real Madrid forward facing horrific racist abuse all season.
The Brazil star was racially abused for at least the sixth time in the past eight months in Real’s match away to Valencia last Sunday and afterwards claimed La Liga now “belongs to the racists”.
It sparked days of debate globally about whether Spain, La Liga and the Spanish football federation has a racism problem and Tebas defended his organisation at a press conference on Thursday.
i revealed on Monday that Vinicius would prefer to move to the Premier League if he were to leave Real Madrid, although the 22-year-old is likely to remain in the Spanish capital.
His availability would spark a desperate fight for his signature from England’s leading clubs.
When Lionel Messi left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 Tebas was asked who could replace him and the La Liga president said he believed that Spanish football’s next megastar was Vinicius.
Tebas insisted that La Liga lacked requisite powers to deal with instances of racism, as it was only able to file reports with other bodies to decide on punishments.
“I’m convinced and I hope that Vinicius will continue in Spanish football and I’d like to show that once we have those powers and competences that this organisation is an organisation that clearly wants to fight against racism, as it already has done so within its remit,” Tebas said.
Tebas believes Vinicius is not aware of the work La Liga has done in the background to combat racism in Spanish football, nor the lack of powers at the Spanish top flight’s disposal.
“It’s all to do with competences [powers] and he’s not necessarily aware and doesn’t necessarily have to be aware of what the situation is,” Tebas said. “What we do want is the power to do more things.
“If we have the power to do this we are convinced within months this would be solved. If we don’t have any powers all we can do is report the events.
“Vinicius is a great player and we love him and I really would like him to stay here and play in Spain.”
An extraordinary row erupted between Vinicius and Tebas in the aftermath of the Valencia game at the Mestalla. The player posted on social media that it “was not the first time, nor the second, nor the third” he had been racially abused.
“Racism is normal in La Liga,” Vinicius added. “The competition considers it normal, the federation considers it normal and the rivals encourage it.
“The championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano [Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi today belongs to the racists.”
Tebas was widely criticised for entering into a public argument with the player online for which he later apologised. In contrast, Real Madrid have stood strongly in solidarity with their player and lodged the abuse on Sunday as a hate crime.
Tebas has not met with Vinicius to discuss what happened but is open to it.
“It’s better for things to calm down a little bit beforehand,” Tebas said. “I wouldn’t have a problem in talking to him with his agents and representatives whenever there is a timely moment to do so.”
Tebas said he hoped it “won’t be the case” that black foreign players will avoid playing in the Spanish leagues due to these racist incidents, but admitted La Liga’s reputation has been badly damaged.
“If I wasn’t concerned, I’d be crazy not to be,” he said. “Of course I’m concerned and we will work to try and find a solution to turn this image around because Spanish football is not racist, La Liga has worked and will continue to work against this behaviour of xenophobic and racist comments in stadiums. Of course I’m concerned.”
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