Mith an insult to Real Madrid striker Vinícius Júnior, a Spanish agent has sparked outrage over racism in football. Brazil legend Pelé raised his voice and declared: “Football is joy. It’s a dance”.
Pedro Bravo, President of the Spanish Association of Football Agents, got excited about the joyful dances that the 22-year-old Vinícius performed after scoring goals on the Spanish sports program “El Chiringuito”: “Anyone who wants to dance samba should go to the sambodrome in Rio. Here (in Spain) you have to respect your teammates and stop making a fool of yourself.”
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBC) later expressed its “solidarity” with the player and condemned the “racist remarks”. Vinícius’ club also reacted immediately. “Real Madrid reject all kinds of racist and xenophobic statements and behavior (…) such as the unfortunate comments made (…) against our player Vinícius Júnior,” the club said in a statement.
Neymar: “Dance, Vini”
Pedro Bravo’s remarks struck a chord in Brazil, where black players are being met with racist taunts from fans. Vinícius himself replied that it is said that many are disturbed by the joy of others and added: “The joy of a black Brazilian in Europe is even more disturbing.” He has been attacked for weeks because of his dances, but these are the dances of Brazil, from Neymar, Ronaldinho, Paqueta, Pogba and others. “These are dances that celebrate the cultural diversity of the world. I won’t stop doing this.”
Bravo meanwhile rowed back. He only meant the expression “make the monkey” metaphorically in the sense of “don’t do stupid things”. He didn’t want to offend anyone and apologize, he wrote on Twitter: “I’m sorry.” Real Madrid nevertheless said that they would “take legal action”.
Before the Madrid derby between Atlético and Real on Sunday evening (9 p.m. live on DAZN), Atlético captain Koke suspects difficulties again: “If he scores a goal and dances at the end (…) there will definitely be trouble”. PSG superstar Neymar, on the other hand, encouraged his compatriot: “Dance, Vini.”
