Vinicius Jr. scores 2 in stadium where he suffered racism in 2023 – 03/02/2024 – Sport

Vinicius Júnior returned this Saturday (2) to Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, where he was the target of racist insults last year, in a case that generated outrage in the world of football. In a match for the 27th round of the Spanish Championship, the Brazilian scored two goals, but the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

During each goal celebration, the Brazilian player raised his right fist and placed his hands over his ears, facing the stands.

Before the match, the Brazilian was the target of new provocation, when he was compared to the character Pinocchio, known for telling lies, on posters distributed around the stadium.

Vinicius was already called Pinocchio by the Valencia press after his testimony about the racism case that occurred in May 2023.

The posters were made by an association of club shareholders, Libertad VCF, which accused stadium security of censorship for having collected the material. Around 20 thousand papers were printed, according to the newspaper Marca.

With the ball already rolling, the team from the Spanish capital, leader of the championship, opened a seven-point lead over Girona, second placed, who on Sunday visits Mallorca.

Valencia opened the scoring with Hugo Duro, in the 27th minute, heading in a cross from Fran Pérez, and scored the second with Roman Yaremchuk, three minutes later, after an error from Dani Carvajal’s pass to goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.

Just before the break, in first-half stoppage time, Real Madrid pulled one back with Vinicius. The attacker finished inside the small area. In the second half, the Brazilian striker left everything the same by heading in a cross from Brahim Díaz.

In stoppage time, Jude Bellingham scored for the Madrid team, but the shot was canceled because the referee signaled that the goal had occurred after the final whistle of the match, which led to confusion on the field and the English player ended up being sent off.

“The red card for Bellingham bothered me because he didn’t say any insults. It’s something unprecedented, it had never happened to me,” complained Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“A lot of things happened, a lot of tension in the game… In the final part, from my point of view, I think the referee said it was the last action and blew the whistle before the Real Madrid player crossed”, said the Valencia coach, Rubén Baraja.