Ancelotti appeared after the game very angry about everything that happened with Vinicius in Mestalla and refused to talk about football, denouncing that LaLiga has a problem with racism. He first did it at Movistar LaLiga.
How have you seen the team?
I don’t want to talk about football. Do you want to talk about soccer?
And what do you want to talk about?
Of what has happened here. I think it’s more important. More than a defeat, don’t you think? I am very calm, but what happened today should not happen. That a stadium yells “monkey” at a player and that a coach thinks of removing him for that… There is something wrong in this league.
What did Vinicius tell you?
He didn’t want to continue, I told him that it didn’t seem fair to me, it wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t the culprit. He kept playing, and they also get a senseless red. That being said, we have a problem. No, I don’t have it… for me Vinicius is one of the best in the world. These episodes of racism cannot happen, it has been the entire stadium, not just one person, as on other occasions. You have to stop it. And I would say the same if we win 3-0.
What did you say to the referee?
I told him that he has to stop the game. He told me that the protocol says that you have to report it, but they have insulted him from the beginning.
How is Viny?
He is very sad, angry… no, it is sadness. This can’t happen.
He told the fans after the red “to Second”.
The reaction is quite normal, there are no buts: an entire stadium has made racist insults to a player. I am very attentive to see what happens. Usually nothing happens. I am not a judge, but the situation must be evaluated carefully, it is quite serious.
Subsequently, he went through a press conference, where he continued with his allegation.
What has happened with Vinicius?
I spoke to him during the game because the atmosphere was very hot, very bad and I asked him if he wanted to continue playing. The fact of thinking about having to remove it because the environment is racist does not seem right to me. I have to remove a player if he doesn’t play well, but the thought of removing him for racism has never happened to me. What has happened today has happened other times, but not like this. Not that way. It is unacceptable. The Spanish League has a problem, which is not Vinicius. Vinicius is the victim of a very serious problem. I’m not the best person to think about what has to be done, but you can’t play football like that. I would say the same if we had won. We have lost, we have not played well, it is difficult to find motivation, but this is too serious. They throw the ball inside us in an attack play, they insult Vinicius all the time and then they show him the red card. What are we talking about? I am very sad, because the Spanish League is a League with great teams, with a good atmosphere, and we have to remove this. We are in 2023, racism does not have to exist. The only way is to stop the match. It is true that now there is a protocol… We have to go home.
Have you ever thought about removing Vini?
This year there are a dozen complaints before Antiviolence for insults to Vinicius. Yes, complaints. And what happened? Nothing at all.
What is the solution?
stop the match For me it is stopping the game. I don’t know if they can invent something else. But it is clear that this cannot continue, it is impossible. He is the player who receives the most fouls and the most insults.
Has Vinicius wanted to leave the field?
I told the referee: ‘I’m going to remove it’. The referee has told me that he applied the protocol. And he passed by again, they yelled ‘monkey, monkey, monkey’. There is not much to say. We are very sad. I am very sad, because it has never happened to me that I have to think about removing a player for insults. In this condition it is very complicated. And then on Wednesday our fans cannot see Vinicius because one of the VAR invents an attack that does not exist. The Valencia player was stopping him, he was trying to get free and they took the red card.
Has Vinicius commented in the locker room what that fan told him?
We are all with him. The player is sad because all he wants is to play soccer. I haven’t talked to him because he was sad. not angry Sad.
Should the game be stopped?
Yes I agree. For me the game had to be stopped, because here I was not a person who has gone crazy. Here a stadium has gone crazy.
Does this set a precedent so that things like this don’t happen again? Vinicius has pointed out the fan.
I have never seen it, just as I have never seen a stadium make racist insults. A whole stadium had never passed me.
In the locker room do they have to talk to Vinicius so that he corrects certain gestures, such as sending the Second Division to the entire stadium? With all that racism is condemnable and about, does Vinicius have to correct some attitudes?
Sure, young people have to improve. But here we have to take into account that when an entire stadium insults you, the youngsters cannot be as cold as they have to be. The reaction that Vinicius has is quite normal and I personally, the club and my teammates support him in everything.