18th September 2022. A chant begins outside of a Spanish football stadium, that includes a racial slur aimed at Vinícius Júnior.
30th December 2022. More chants. 12 football fans have their season tickets suspended.
26th January 2023. An effigy of Vinícius Júnior is hung from a bridge.
5th February 2023. More chants. A football fan is banned for three years.
18th February 2023. More chants.
5th March 2023. More.
19th March 2023. More.
22nd May 2023. More.
Eight incidents – this season alone – in seven different cities across Spain, involving football fans, racism, and one football player.
Things don’t need to be overcomplicated. This is a serious, deep-rooted problem.
Sunday night at Mestalla was the breaking point.
As Vinícius Júnior waited for a free-kick – awarded after a second ball was kicked towards the Brazilian in an attempt to disrupt the game – he heard the chanting again.
He points towards the person responsible, is dragged away from the scene. Asked if he wanted to continue playing, he reportedly says no.
20 minutes later, as a scuffle breaks out, the 22-year-old is sent off.
Raising his hand to an opponent's face, it was a fair dismissal in isolation. But Vinícius emerging as the only player punished from an angry melee has since left another sour taste in the mouth.
He responds incredulously, sarcastically – gesturing to the home support that they will be relegated by the end of the season. A mess, an ugly scene, but ultimately, an accumulation of real, raw, justifiable emotion.
This, unfortunately, had been brewing for quite some time.
The aftermath has been bleak, and largely indicative of the issue. Quibbling over finer details achieves infuriatingly little, and only muddies the water. Caveats are not required in situations like these.
Conversations about Ancelotti’s response, the number of fans involved, how Vinicíus himself behaves, only divert attention from the real issue at hand.
For the eighth time this season, during a broadcasted game of football, visible to millions, the same football player was racially abused.
Ya está.
La Liga is a much better place for Vinícius Júnior. We hope that he stays.
But the mere fact that a player should even consider his future, for a fleeting second, for reasons such as this, should be enough to make Spanish football feel ashamed.
Ánimo Vinícius. You have our support.