On Tuesday, seven persons were arrested in connection with racist comments made at Real Madrid star Vincius Jr. this season.

Four young men were seized by Spanish police for reportedly hanging an effigy of Vincius down a bridge in Madrid in January, while three others were taken on suspicion of being involved in racial slurs directed towards the Brazilian during Sunday's play against Valencia.

Both incidents have been classified as hate crimes.

The incident with the effigy occurred in Madrid near Real's training center on January 26 prior of the team's Copa del Rey quarterfinal match against Atlético Madrid.

The effigy, which was clad in a Real Madrid shirt with Vincius' name and No. 20 on the back, was shown hanging alongside a placard that read: "Madrid hates Real."

"Three of those arrested are active members of a radical fan group of a football club from Madrid," police said in a statement.

"The investigation carried out by police, among other things, through evidence gathered, witnesses, and open-source digital research, led to the identification of the four men suspected of the crime."

The police statement added that the three fans belonging to an ultra group had previously been identified at matches classified as “high risk” in the police’s attempts to clamp down on violence in sport.

The three suspects in the incident at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium are aged 18 to 21 and were arrested in three different locations, the police press office told CNN.

Vinícius has been subjected to racist abuse from the stands on numerous occasions during La Liga matches over the past two seasons, most recently against Valencia on Sunday.

The referee's official game report described the event, adding that a spectator yelled "monkey, monkey" towards Vincius during the second half. DAZN Espaa video footage of the game also showed that the Real Madrid player was treated to a number of additional racial slurs throughout the game.

On Monday, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended Vincius, saying it's "inconceivable" that "nearly in the middle of the twenty-first century, we have racial prejudice gaining strength in several football stadiums in Europe."

"I believe it is critical that FIFA, the Spanish league, and leagues in other countries take real action because fascism and racism cannot be tolerated in football stadiums," he continued.


In one particular incident involving the Brazilian, LaLiga told CNN in March that following an investigation into racist chants of “You are a monkey, Vinícius, you are a monkey” – aimed at Vinícius before and during Real’s match against Atleti on September 18, 2022 – the local Madrid prosecutor didn’t pursue the case because the yells were within the context of other “unpleasant and disrespectful” chants during a “football match of maximum rivalry.”

As a result of this and amid increasing criticism at the lack of action taken over racist incidents, LaLiga says it “will now proactively seek an amendment to the law that enables it to enact disciplinary action moving forward.”

Spain has racism problem, football chief says



The head of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales, admitted on Monday that there is a racism problem in the country.

“We have a problem,” Rubiales told a media conference. “The first thing is to recognize that we have a problem in our country of behavior, education, racism.

“While there is just one fan, one undesirable, a group of undesirables, who insults due to sexuality, skin color or creed, then we have a serious problem. A serious problem that also stains a whole team, a whole fan base, a whole club, a whole country – and we are a welcoming country.

“Vinícius Junior and any footballer, woman or man, who suffers an insult, any violent act, has my support and that of the entire RFEF because we are here to help and ask them to help us improve,” he added.


Rubiales also criticized LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who got involved in a back-and-forth with Vinícius on Twitter after Sunday’s match.

Tebas tweeted Vinícius Jr. telling him to “inform” himself on LaLiga’s jurisdictions and role in racism cases and chiding him for twice not meeting with him to discuss the matter.

When Vinícius replied: “I am not your friend to talk with about racism. I want actions and punishments. Hashtags don’t move me,” Tebas again took to Twitter in an attempt to defend himself and LaLiga’s actions in the fight against racism.

Rubiales urged Vinícius Jr to ignore Tebas’ “irresponsible behavior.”

“I want to also ask him [Vini] to please ignore the irresponsible behavior of the President of LaLiga, who on social media engaged with a footballer who, hours earlier had received several racist insults of tremendous severity,” Rubiales said.

“Directors are not here to get involved in engagements on social media, we’re here to try and solve problems – and this footballer was attacked very seriously.

“It was not the time [to jump on social media],” he added.