LALIGA
Vinicius Jr. red card rescinded as Valencia hit with stadium closure
The south stand at Mestalla is set to be closed for five games with Valencia also fined $49,000 following Sunday’s incidents.
Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Vinicius Jr’s red card in Sunday’s LaLiga match at Valencia, in which he was also racially abused, has been rescinded, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) confirmed on Tuesday night after a meeting by the disciplinary Competition Committee.
The Madrid player was sent off in time added on by referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea for hitting out at Hugo Duro following a scuffle with Valencia players in which Vinicius appeared to be grabbed around the neck by the Valencia man.
Vinicius had earlier been racially abused by fans located in the Grada Mario Kempes (south stand) at Mestalla, which led to the game being halted for over ten minutes as the player pointed out people who were abusing him in the stands.
“The RFEF Competition Committee considers that the referee’s assessment was determined by the omission of the entirety of the play that took place, which affected the refereeing decision,” the federation said.
“The fact that he (the referee) was deprived of a decisive part of the facts led him to adopt an arbitrary decision. And this is because it was impossible for him to properly assess what happened.”
Three Valencia supporters accused of different hate crimes against Vinicius were detained by the Spanish police earlier on Tuesday.
Stadium closure
The RFEF also announced that it had fined the club $49,000 and that the south stand of the Valencia stadium will be partially closed for five matches.
The Mestalla club later issued a statement where the felt that the punishment was ‘disproportionate and unjust’ with the club adding that they would ‘exhaust all measures” to ensure that the south stand at the stadium is not partially closed.