Real Madrid take legal action over Vinícius Júnior chants: what did club say?

Real Madrid say they have lodged a complaint with Spanish prosecutors after soccer fans sang abusive chants about Vinícius Júnior at midweek Champions League matches in Spain.

Footage has emerged of Atlético Madrid supporters calling Vinícius, who is Black, a “chimpanzee” ahead of Los Rojiblancos’ last-16 second leg against Inter Milan on Wednesday.

In addition to reporting Atlético fans’ racist chanting, Madrid say they have also taken legal action over abuse directed at Vinícius by supporters attending Barcelona’s knockout tie against Napoli. Fans could be heard chanting “Vinícius, die” outside the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barça’s temporary home stadium, before Tuesday’s game.

Watch - Racist chants against Vinícius at Atlético-Inter:

“Real Madrid condemns these violent attacks”

In a statement released on Friday, Madrid said: “Real Madrid C. F. has filed a complaint with the Official State Prosecutor over hate and discrimination offences pertaining to the racist and hateful abuse aimed at our player Vinicius Junior in the areas surrounding the Montjuic Olympic Stadium and the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, ahead of the F. C. Barcelona-Napoli and Atlético de Madrid-Inter Milan Champions League fixtures.

“Real Madrid calls on Prosecutors to request the recordings available of both locations from the security forces in order to identify the perpetrators of the abuse.

“Real Madrid condemns these violent attacks of racism, discrimination and hate against our player Vinicius Junior, which have sadly been a recurrent and ongoing concern for some time. Our club will continue working hard to uphold the values of football and sport as a whole, and will remain steadfast in the fight for a zero-tolerance approach to the types of despicable incidents we have seen on multiple occasions in recent times.”

Vinícius urges UEFA action over racist abuse

On Thursday, Vinícius took to social media to call on UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, to take action over the abuse he suffered this week. Replying to an X post that shared a video of Atlético fans’ “chimpanzee” chants, the Brazilian said to UEFA: “I hope you have already thought about their punishment. It’s a sad reality that even happens in games where I’m not present!”

LaLiga, which runs professional league soccer in the men’s game in Spain, has also filed a legal complaint over Atlético supporters’ chants.

“LaLiga is fully committed to making soccer a space free of hate, and will continue to pursue without rest any racist, homophobic, violent, or hate-fuelled conduct… whichever competition it happens in,” the body said on Thursday.