RABAT: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Tuesday that the abuse that has been directed at his player Vinicius Jr is a problem for the whole of Spanish football, not for the 22-year-old Brazilian.

Vinicius received racist abuse from fans in Mallorca on Sunday during an ill-tempered match in which the Brazilian was fouled 10 times, the most for any player in La Liga this season.

Vinicius has been subjected to racial abuse by fans on at least three other occasions and is the most fouled player in Europe’s top seven leagues by a big margin.

“It seems that the problem is Vinicius, and it is not like that. It is a problem of Spanish football and it must be solved,” Ancelotti told a news conference in Rabat on Tuesday, on the eve of Real Madrid’s Club World Cup semi-final against Egypt’s Al Ahly.

“The question I ask is this: Is it Vinicius or his team-mates? What do his team mates have to defend Vinicius from? Vinicius is the victim of something that I don’t understand.”

Supporters in Mallorca could be heard racially insulting the player in a video published by streaming company DAZN on social media on Sunday.

Spanish police are also investigating a possible hate crime against the Brazilian after a mannequin wearing his No. 20 shirt was hung from a bridge in front of the club’s training centre ahead of the Madrid derby two weeks ago.

The mannequin was hung by the neck next to a banner in Atletico Madrid’s red and white colours that read “Madrid hates Real” during the early hours of Jan 26, police said.

In September, prosecutors in Madrid decided not to press charges over racist chanting aimed at Vinicius after finding it had “lasted a few seconds” and had not constituted a crime.

Vinicius issued a video statement at the time in response to what he called a “xenophobic and ra­cist” insult, saying he “won’t stop dancing” and that “the happiness of a black Brazilian being successful in Europe bothers” many people.

“On the issue of racism, I think that is people that are bitter with their own lives who go in the stands and try to pay for their frustrations with a 22-year-old kid. You have to have respect for other people,” Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde told a news conference on Tuesday.

“When a player is fouled a lot it’s part of football, but we as team-mates have to defend him,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2023