Vinicius Jr. is a very talented player who has enjoyed winning a host of trophies in his five years at Real Madrid but sadly headlines are being taken away from his ability and instead focusing on the racist abuse that he’s so often receiving.
Speaking with Marca, Pepe Reina was asked to share his thoughts on the abuse the Brazilian received against Valencia and said: “I see that sometimes it’s not just racism, it’s not that a fan is racist or not, but rather that they take it out on a specific player, because he can talk too much at one point…
“It’s happened to us everyone, me included. As a general reflection, the less you provoke the stands, the less you provoke the rivals and the less you protest to the referee, the more respect you will have from everyone….
“He is becoming one of the best in the world. But I think he must also mature in behavior, in having more respect for his rivals, in understanding some unwritten football values or codes. That would improve his performance. It can’t be that every game away from home is a war for him”.
It’s deeply upsetting as a Liverpool fan to see that a real fan favourite, who spent eight years at Anfield, is now making excuses for racists who directed monkey chants at a 22-year-old young man.
The point the Spaniard is, very clumsily, trying to make is that a player who antagonises opposition players, fans and the referee is likely to receive abuse from the supporters – which is in some ways true.
However, to suggest that it’s then reasonable to expect that this should lead to racism is completely unforgivable.
Football is tribal and fans like to insult their opponents but there always has to be a line and when this is crossed, there must be punishments and repercussions.
The 40-year-old ex-Red is trying to explain why people may have to resort to racism because of how a player acts on a football field, there is never a time or a place to abuse someone because of the colour of their skin.
This outdated opinion is really upsetting to read and shows how far so many people still need to come in order to be educated about their outlook on racist abuse.
Shame on you Pepe.
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Not one single excuse for racism …. the Spaniards have a lot to learn …. look,at the league director tebas it comes from the top down … valencia had the audacity to appeal a 45,000 fine and was successful in doing so…. what does this say to the rest of the sporting world I hope the TV rating take a hit maybe thwy will do something then
Whoa ….Slow down a minute!
“The Spaniards have a lot to learn”?
I am Black and I am Spanish. The first time I experienced racism is when I came to this country. One cannot “generalise” a whole race simply because of a minority.
Very convenient for you leaving out the beginning of his statement when he literally says “The first thing, and most important, is that any racist behavior must be stopped. Then, I don’t think there is racism in all the stadiums in Spain or that an entire stadium is racist.”
He’s not apologizing for racism, he’s saying that out of 48 K people in that stadium only a couple of idiots made the shouts and is unfair to label them all under the same umbrella.
And this couple of idiots say that stuff to throw you out of your game and most likely because you’re winding them up, is not acceptable to say racist stuff but you don’t do yourself any favors by not showing respect to rivals or their fans; otherwise why did they target Vimcicuis specifically and not Camavinga, Rudiger or Tchouameni?
That still does not excuse the comments that follow. Pepe’s comments are from someone who clearly has never experienced racism. The two issues (antagonistic player behaviour and racism) are not linked in any way whatsoever. The one and only thing that needs to be stated is that the racism that clearly has been allowed to proliferate in Spanish football stadiums needs to be dealt with. If fining clubs doesn’t work, close stadiums, if that doesn’t work impose sporting sanctions, if that doesn’t work expel the clubs. Logical, but the will has to be there and it doesn’t exist with Tebas in charge and comments like this from respected footballers.
Very convenient for you leaving out the beginning of his statement when he literally says “The first thing, and most important, is that any racist behavior must be stopped. Then, I don’t think there is racism in all the stadiums in Spain or that an entire stadium is racist.”
He’s not apologizing for racism, he’s saying that out of 48 K people in that stadium only a couple of idiots made the shouts and is unfair to label them all under the same umbrella.
And this couple of idiots say that stuff to throw you out of your game and most likely because you’re winding them up, is not acceptable to say racist stuff but you don’t do yourself any favors by not showing respect to rivals or their fans; otherwise why did they target Vimcicuis specifically and not Camavinga, Rudiger or Tchouameni?
I think his right
I am not sure that Pepe is trying to make excuses for racism. The abuse that Vinicius gets probably takes on a lot of forms. Racist and non racist. I am not saying any of it is ok either. Pepe would know better than me, but the bigger the character the more attention will be received. I think that is his point. Good attention and dreadful attention. I’m sure he has the respect of fellow professionals and most football fans would I suspect rate him as a player. But to have racist chanting just isn’t acceptable.