“In an environment where they insult you, it’s difficult to be an example and not rebound; that’s what happens to Vinícius”
“It doesn’t matter what the shirt is, Vinícius is a person before he is a footballer, you have to defend anyone above your colours”
BARCELONA, 22 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The FC Barcelona coach, Xavi Hernández, strongly condemned the racist insults that the Real Madrid player Vinícius Jr. received at the Mestalla and assured that this situation must end and defend any player beyond the colors, and proposed leaving to play as soon as insults are heard on a field.
“I’m working, in my work habit, and the insult is accepted. I’m on the bench and they call me ‘son of…’. I don’t see a baker suffering from this. Insult? Out and you don’t play. finished. It is a message for the president of LaLiga and the RFEF, we must stop all this,” he said at a press conference.
The Blaugrana coach assured that now that he is the Barça coach and has a media speaker, it is time to express what he has felt for a long time. “Go and insult a worker, a brick is going to fall on your head. An insult? The game stops and we don’t play. It’s time for it,” reiterated the man from Terrassa.
“I don’t have to put up with insults and impudence during my working hours. I’ve always thought about it. We don’t have to put up with this, it’s very unpleasant. It doesn’t happen in other sports. What happens in football? You have to educate people and say ‘enough is enough’. You have to stop the game and go home. I see it that way. You have to stop this. It’s an educational issue. I don’t care if Vinicius or Eto’o. I don’t care about the shield. You have to stop the insult, beyond the contempt that may be”, he added in this regard.
“It doesn’t matter what the shirt is, Vinícius is a person, he is not a Madrid footballer before he is a person, you have to defend any footballer above the colors. Defend him, not Vinícius, the football professional, if this serves to have a before and after, all the professionals are here to defend the profession of the footballer, the coach, the journalist… I don’t understand it, as a person and citizen”, he deepened.
Xavi regretted that in the middle of 2023 there are still cases of racism. “It is sad and unfortunate. I condemn any act of racism in any field and player, there are no shields in this. It is about people and any act of racism must be condemned, like the one yesterday at Mestalla against Vinícius. We have to get strong to eradicate racism”, he was sincere.
“I take this opportunity to say enough is enough. If I go to the theater and I don’t like it, I’m leaving but I don’t insult anyone. You don’t have to insult players or referees, either. It’s a generational issue to change among all of us because it’s not positive for society “said the Blaugrana coach.
Of course, he disagreed with Vini Jr. regarding the fact that Spain or LaLiga are racist. “I don’t see it reaching the point of saying that Spain or the League is racist, but there are acts of racism. If we are in an environment where they insult us and say everything, it is difficult to be an example and not rebound. It is what it happens to Vinícius. There are cases of racism but I would not say so much, that Spain is racist”, qualified.