For several years, racism has been one of the most disastrous evils in Spanish football. Indeed, during several meetings, and even before the latter, incidents of a racist nature took place. While this fight against the racism of certain Iberian supporters is notably embodied by Vinicius Junior, more and more players do not hesitate to come out of the silence to take action against this scourge. During last week’s Clasico (0-4 in favor of Barça, editor’s note), Ansu Fati, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha were targeted with racist insults. This Saturday, the latter spoke in an interview given to El País. Author of an absolutely breathtaking start to the season, the former Rennais was also masterful in his position this Saturday in the columns of the Iberian media.
Indeed, after a long tirade to condemn racism, the Brazilian winger called for exemplary sanctions against what he considers to be criminals: “we talked about it (with Ansu Fati and Lamine Yamal), everyone is different. Of course it bothers you, we are doing our job. We know that the fans of the other team can do anything to make things go wrong for you and that we need to be focused, but when they insult you and those insults are directed elsewhere, it’s more complicated. I spoke to Ansu after the match and he told us what happened to him. He was sadder. With Lamine, we heard that they were saying things to us, but we didn’t understand exactly what they were saying. But Ansu understood. After the match we watched the videos and that’s when we understood what they were saying. This cannot be normalized. Someone more powerful must do something.» The message got through.
