It’s something we could have done without, that goes without saying. On May 21, during a duel between Valencia and Real Madrid at Mestalla, Vinícius Júnior was the victim of racist shouts and insults. An affair which had, logically, caused a huge outcry, in Spain but also internationally, bordering on the diplomatic incident between Brazil and Spain. FIFA also took up the case, as did the Spanish courts, which convicted three supporters of the local club. Valence CF, for its part, received a sanction of five matches behind closed doors.
Valencia prepared the ground
This weekend, Real Madrid and Vinícius Júnior will return to Mestalla, for the first time since these sad incidents. And inevitably, the meeting will be followed very closely. On the other side of the Pyrenees, we already feel the tension rising, even if all the parties involved hope that everything will go well and that no incidents will be deplored. Valencia, for example, has banned Netflix production teams from entering the stadium, while the platform is currently filming a documentary on the Brazilian star.
It must be said that on the Valencia side, we have had it very bad for several months. Both management and fans of the Mediterranean club believe they have been victims of unfair treatment. Mainly from the media, which they accuse of having given the club a bad image because of the behavior of some supporters. “This was an isolated case in more than 100 years of history”explains the club to A.S.. Especially since, still from a Valencian point of view, the club took drastic measures towards the supporters in question, banned from the stadium for life. The Ches have therefore banned access to Netflix because they are afraid that the images that will be filmed could be used for bad purposes. A way of protecting itself, while Valencia has been preparing, for months already, this return of Vinícius Júnior to its lands.
The role of the media singled out
The club with the bat has launched several initiatives in recent months to educate and make fans aware of the seriousness of subjects linked to discrimination, xenophobia or homophobia, in addition to having asked its supporters to ‘have exemplary behavior to bring honor to the club. The management of Valencia knows that it has a lot to lose this Saturday in the slightest incident… On the Madrid side, we are remaining rather discreet for the moment, but we know that the club chaired by Florentino Pérez will step up and do everything who will be in his power to defend his player in the event of new incidents at Mestalla.
While everything is done to ease tensions and the meeting takes place in a more or less peaceful climate, many fear the role of the media in this story. The fans are therefore afraid that the media treatment of the coming days will add fuel to the fire, and do not want this match to serve as a settling of scores between the Madrid media and the Valencian media, who have regularly accused their Madrid counterparts just like they also criticized the provocative attitude – according to them – of the Brazilian player. See you Saturday evening, hoping that all goes well…
