Real Madrid had theirs appeal against Vinicius Junior's red card received during his 2-1 victory over Valencia rejected, with a decision that is however detailed.
One of the reasons on which Real Madrid stated that Vinicius should be left without the two-game sanction was that the Brazilian was on the receiving end of racist abuse from Valencia fans, which could be classified as a mitigating factor and provocation. However, the Appeals Committee said they were unable to verify the claims of racial abuse.
After the match at Mestalla, Real Madrid TV broadcast footage from two Real Madrid fan channels on YouTube, where racist abuse could be heard. That footage was later used as part of the Los Blancos club's appeal, claiming that it had an impact on the Brazilian. The following is a extract from his decision.
“The video, edited and made up of several sequences of different matches, only allows us to hear two isolated individuals, at two different times uttering racist insults, then they show the video evidence of various sequences of generalized chants such as” Beach Ball, Vinicius Beach Ball” or “idiot, idiot” which from an objective point of view do not fall into the category of racist insults denounced by the appeal club.
“This Committee, as it could not be otherwise, categorically rejects racist, xenophobic or intolerant behaviors, songs or attitudes, but this rejection of such should not prevent the rigorous analysis required by the complaint, without this Committee, to the light of the evidence in the file, being able to consider the “serious racist chants” reported by the appeal club as proven, nor therefore take into consideration from the point of view of constituting a circumstance that could mitigate the disciplinary responsibility derived from the action committed by the player.
This does not define that the racial abuse did not happen, but certainly it is concerning that Real Madrid did not investigate the material before making such serious accusations, and use it as part of an official appeal.
