Real Madrid file complaint against referee for not reporting racist abuse towards Vinicius Jr

Madrid: La Liga club Real Madrid have filed a complaint against the referee Juan Martínez Munuera, who took charge of Saturday’s game against Osasuna, for omitting from his refereeing report the alleged racist abuse suffered by their forward Vinicius Jr.

Vinicius Jr, who scored twice in the 4-2 win over Osasuna that moved Real Madrid 10 points clear at the top of La Liga, is a victim of several racism incidents in the past few years.

In a statement, Real Madrid said the humiliating chants were deliberately omitted from the report by Munuera despite his attention being drawn to the crowd continually by Vini Jr at the moment when they were taking place.

“Our club has filed a complaint with the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s Disciplinary Committee regarding the match referee Juan Martínez Munuera, owing to the negligent drafting of the refereeing report,” it said in a statement. “The official omitted, in a voluntary and deliberate fashion, the insults and humiliating chants directed towards our player on a repeated basis, despite his attention being drawn to them continually by our players as they were happening,” it added.

“The club has filed a complaint with the same Federative body about the aforementioned insults and humiliating chants, and has reported them to the State Commission Against Violence and Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport, in order for those responsible to be identified and sanctioned, the statement read further.

Real Madrid has also added to the complaint filed before the General State Prosecutor on March 15 regarding hate and discrimination offenses about the racist and hateful abuse aimed at Vinicius Junior by Atletico Madrid and Barcelona fans, calling for the perpetrators to be identified.

“Real Madrid once again condemns these violent attacks of racism, discrimination, and hate and demands that measures finally be taken in order to eradicate the violence to which our player Vinicius Junior has been subjected,” it concluded.

–IANS