Racism: ‘I have less desire to play’, says Vinicius Jr – 03/25/2024 – Sport

Brazilian national team and Real Madrid striker Vinicius Junior cried this Monday (25) when talking about the constant episodes of racism he has faced over the last few years in Spain from fans of opposing teams.

“I’m increasingly sad, I have less desire to play, but I’m going to keep fighting”, said the player revealed by Flamengo in a conversation with journalists before a friendly match against Spain, this Tuesday (26), in which he spoke much more about combating racism than about football itself.

With the motto “One skin”, the game between the two teams, at the Santiago Bernabéu, home of Real Madrid, is part of the efforts of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and the Spanish Football Federation to promote actions to combat racism and violence in football.

Playing for Real Madrid since 2018, the Brazilian has been forced to live with frequent racist insults — from prejudiced comments on sports programs to shouts of ‘monkey’ uttered by opposing fans, to the simulation of hanging a doll wearing the star’s shirt. .

Vinicius Junior said that he is frustrated with the lack of punishments in Spain against racist fans and that, if it were up to him alone, he would have given up fighting for the cause of racial equality. “If we start to punish all these people who commit crimes, we will start to evolve,” said the player. He acknowledged that the punishments will not change the way racist fans think, but at least they will make them more afraid of expressing themselves in a prejudiced way publicly.

“I want to fight for all those who are black, poor and cannot enter the market and do everything they want calmly because there will always be someone judging, monitoring. [São situações] that have happened many times to me, to my family.”

According to the Brazilian, due to the lack of punishments, with each complaint he makes against cases of racism he suffers during matches, whether in the Spanish Championship or the European Champions League, there appears to be an increase in prejudiced expressions.

“With each report, more and more people insult me ​​because they think I’m against Spain. I’m not against Spain, I’m against all the racists in the world,” said Vinicius Junior. “Spain is not a racist country, but there are many racists here, and many of them are in the stadiums and that needs to change.”

The player said that he has been studying to learn more about racism, so that he can speak with even greater authority on the topic. “I was chosen to defend such an important cause. Every day I study more about it and I’ve been learning so that my brother, who is 5 years old, doesn’t have to go through everything I’m going through.”

He stated that his father, Vinicius José Paixão de Oliveira, always had difficulty getting work because he was black. When choosing between a white and a black candidate, they always choose the white one, said the Real Madrid striker, who thanked his teammates and the club for the support he has received from them in recent years. “Only those who are black really know what we went through”

Vinicius Junior also criticized the Spanish sports media for the blatant coverage of his attitudes on the pitch, classified by the European country’s publications as provocative. “Of course I have to evolve, I have to improve, but I’m only 23 years old, it’s a natural process because I left Brazil very young and couldn’t learn so many things”, said the player, sold by the Red and Black to the Madrid club in 2017, when he was just 17 years old.