Real Madrid superstar, Thibaut Courtois, has said that he would leave the pitch along with Vinicius Junior if the latter receives racist abuse.
The Brazilian attacker was the subject of constant racist slurs during Madrid’s away clash against Valencia on Sunday, in what was the 10th racist abuse incident the forward has experienced this season.
The game had to be paused in one instance, as Vinicius, along with other Los Blancos players, went to point out a particular fan who was hurling racist abuse at the player.
Courtois has now shared his take on the matter. He lambasted the fans for their actions. Speaking to France 24, the big Belgian said:
“If Vini wants to keep playing, we keep playing, but if Vinicius Jr says he’s leaving, I’m leaving the pitch with him, because we cannot tolerate these things.”
Speaking of the incident that raised eyebrows in an already feisty fixture – Vinicius receiving a red card during a brawl in the 97th minute of the encounter, Courtois said:
“With the brawl, the first to receive a red card should be Hugo Duro, who grabbed Vinicius by the neck.”
The Real Madrid goalkeeper also said that there were racist slurs aimed at his Brazilian teammate earlier in the game, too:
“I feel bad because there was an act of racism. I remember at the start, around the 20th minute there were monkey sounds; sometimes it’s hard to see if it is or not, (but) the first thing is that we cannot accept this; we cannot tolerate this. One day, you will have to put a camera just focused on these people because the disgusting things you can hear are crazy.”
"The championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano and Messi, today belongs to the racists." —Vinicius Jr. #SportsGist #PerfectMatchXtra Denzel Washington | Ashantis |
— Sports Gist (@theSportsGist) May 22, 2023
Mohammed Kudus | Big Brother | Rudiger pic.twitter.com/Jigp2CO3Le
Madrid suffer defeat at Valencia
The racism controversy at the Mestalla made football take a back seat. In the game, Real Madrid lost 1-0, with Diego Lopez netting a 33rd-minute winner.
Despite bossing possession, Los Blancos failed to score, slumping to their second straight loss across competitions without scoring.
Earlier in midweek, they went down 4-0 at Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg, bowing out with a 5-1 aggregate defeat.
Following their loss at the Mestalla, Carlo Ancelotti’s team have slipped to third spot in the league. They have 71 points from 35 games and trail second-placed Atletico Madrid by a point. This loss serves as a boost for Atletico Madrid who as per Daily Mail reports, hope to finish ahead of rivals Real Madrid.
Vinicius fires back at Tebas
Earlier Sports Brief reported Real Madrid forward Vinicius fired back with a fiery statement to La Liga’s President Javier Tebas’s stand on Sunday’s event.