Vinicius Jr: RFEF take stance on racism, annul red card, close Valencia stadium stand

Spanish football’s governing body, RFEF, have decided to act on recent declarations of solidarity towards Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior by rescinding the red card he received during the LaLiga game against Valencia and hitting Los Che with sanctions for their part in the incident. 

Vinicius Jr. was sent off for violent conduct moments after receiving racial abuse from sections of the Valencia crowd during Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat. 

The match had to be halted for an announcement to be made for fans to cease the chanting aimed at Vinicius, but it was to no avail as sections of the Valencia support kept on hurling abuse at the Brazilian. 

Vinicius received copious support after the incident with ex and current players as well as football dignitaries sending messages of solidarity to the Real Madrid winger including the president of world football’s governing body FIFA and the president of Spain’s football body RFEF. 

RFEF president, Luis Rubiales offered Vinicius support and asked him to ignore the Twitter tirades of LaLiga president Javier Tebas who attacked the Real Madrid winger for not knowing enough about what LaLiga had done to combat racism. 

Rubiales and RFEF have also gone a step further in their support for Vinicius, by rescinding the red card he received against Valencia, meaning he will be available for Los Blancos’ game against Rayo Vallecano. 

RFEF have also dropped the hammer on Valencia, closing down sections of their Mestalla Stadium for five matches, especially the Mario Kempes stand where the racist abuse against Vinicius was heard. 

Valencia will also be made to pay a fine of €45,000 for their part in the debacle.