Real Madrid’s game against Valencia on Sunday was interrupted for 10 minutes as Vinicius pointed it out to fans who had abused him before he got into an altercation with players from the opposing team which led to his expulsion.
“Well, it looks like the result wasn’t very good, was it?” Tebas said in an interview with Reuters. referring to his much-criticized Twitter comments suggesting Vinicius should research more what the League is doing to combat racism “before criticizing and defaming the League”.
Here are the highlights of Tebas’ interview with Reuters:
I say to everyone who understood that it was a mistake because of the method and because of the timing.. I owe an apology, adding that it was not his intention to attack Vinicius, blaming him on “the ‘excitement of the moment’. I apologize to Vinicius and everyone who understood that I was attacking the player. Tebas confirmed he shared the 22-year-old’s frustration with the lack of action to stamp out racism in Spain, pointing the finger at tournament organizers and the Spanish authorities, saying neither had done enough to eradicate racism. He said he felt “powerless” to tackle racism in football because under Spanish law the national league can only detect and report racist incidents. Tebas has called for legislative changes so that the league has punitive powers, such as closing stands or expelling club members, so that it can tackle racism more effectively. If we are given these powers, we will complete this in a few months. I think it could be argued that the explosion led to the (necessary) measures and hope that it will, warning that without giving its foundation more punitive powers, the changes will be “more cosmetic than real”. If we continue with the status quo, we have our own suspicions about the League (about the whole situation).
Valencia’s South Stand will be partially closed for five matches and the club will be fined 45,000 euros ($50,000) after the mistreatment of Vinicius.
Sunday’s abuse at Valencia was the tenth episode of racist incidents against Vinicius the league has referred to prosecutors this season, according to Tebas, who also noted he had done everything he could to resolve the issue.
It should be noted that police on Tuesday arrested seven people accused of committing other hate crimes against Vinicius.
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