Ancelotti: Spain has 'great opportunity' to take 'drastic' measures against racism

The visibility surrounding the latest case of abuse against Viní‐ cius Júnior gives Spain a great opportunity to take serious ac‐ tion against racism, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Tues‐ day.

Ancelotti said Vinícius is sad but remained motivated after yet another case of racial abuse against him in the Spanish league on Sunday. He said he didn't think the Brazilian was consider‐ ing leaving despite hinting he could take his fight against racism somewhere else.

Ancelotti's comments came as Spanish police arrested seven people accused of racially abus‐ ing Vinícius. Three were de‐ tained in Valencia and four in Madrid for allegedly hanging an effigy of the player off a highway bridge in January.

Vinícius, who is Black, has been repeatedly subjected to racial abuse in Spain, especially this season.

Ancelotti said racism and in‐ sults in general are too normal in Spain and its the right moment to try to start eradicating the problem.

The veteran coach called on the local institutions such as the Spanish federation and the Span‐ ish league to "act decisively."

"It's a crucial moment, a mo‐ ment to take drastic measures," Ancelotti said. "Now that the issue has visibility, the institu‐ tions have to take this opportu‐ nity to try to fix this problem."

He said cases of racism in Spain are not isolated, and that just de‐ nouncing them isn't going to be enough.

"We're concerned about what has happened, just like everyone else," Ancelotti said. "There has been lots of talk about the situa‐ tion and it's right and fair to talk about it. It could be a great op‐ portunity to take big strides to improve things."

Barcelona coach Xavi had al‐ ready said Monday that the mes‐ sage for the federation and the league was that it was the "right time" to tackle the issue of racism in Spain.

Both Xavi and Ancelotti said that games should be stopped when there is an incident like what happened against Vinícius.

Ancelotti said that maybe he should have taken his team off the field after Vinícius said he was insulted in Valencia, but at the time didn't feel it was needed after talking to the player and hearing that he wanted to con‐ tinue.

"I may do it in the future, even though it's not my responsibil‐ ity," he said. "I hope we don't have to come to such a drastic re‐ sponse because I don't want it to go that far."

Ancelotti said the current pro‐ tocol against racism is "obso‐ lete," and that authorities should have taken action in Valencia even before the game started as fans called Vinícius a monkey as the Madrid team bus arrived in the stadium.

Ancelotti said Vinícius was "re‐ ally upset" but knows he has the support from everyone, not just Real Madrid.

"He loves soccer and Real Madrid," Ancelotti said. "He is not considering to leave. He wants to spend his career here."

Ancelotti apologized for saying the entire Mestalla Stadium was racially insulting Vinícius in Va‐ lencia on Sunday, but said it doesn't take away from the fact that insults were made, whether racist or not.

Madrid president Florentino Pérez said Tuesday his club "will not tolerate any more racist inci‐ dents against its players."