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Real Madrid attacker Vinicius Junior took to social media to react to a video of Atletico Madrid fans aiming racist chants at him outside the club's home arena, Wanda Metropolitano, prior to their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 game against Inter Milan on Wednesday, March 13.
The star player said it was 'a sad reality' and urged UEFA to sanction Atletico Madrid and their fans.
"I hope you (UEFA) have already thought about sanctioning them. It is a sad reality, which even happens in games where I'm not pesent," he wrote on X.
This is not the first time that the Real Madrid winger is dealing with such incidents. He has been subjected to racial abuse several times during domestic games in Spain.
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Prior to Wednesday's incident outside Wanda Metropolitano, he had racist chants aimed at him by Valencia fans at Mestalla last year.
Vini Jr has repeatedly addressed this racial abuse against him by fans, but the Spanish Football Federation hasn't imposed any sanctions to teams or fans until now.
La Liga reacts to Atletico Madrid fans' racist chants against Real Madrid star Vini Jr
La Liga released a statement to address the incident on Wednesday. La Liga claimed they would take action by reporting the incident to the Spain prosecutors' office. UEFA can't interfere at the moment, since the incident didn't happen inside the stadium.
"La Liga is very committed to ensuring that football is a space free of hate and will continue to relentlessly pursue any attitude of racism, homophobia, violence, and hatred," the statement reads, via ESPN.
This is not the first time that Atletico Madrid fans have targeted Vinicius with racist chants. In 2021, during the derby between rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, he had monkey chants and gestures aimed at him by the former's fans. A similar incident took place in the streets of Madrid in February 2023.
Vinicius has been playing for Real Madrid since 2018 and he is considered one of the world's best wingers. He has won La Liga twice and the UEFA Champions League in 2022.
