Barcelona forward Raphinha took off his jersey and revealed his message of support for fellow Brazilian Vinícius Júnior.
The message, which included anti-racism words in Portuguese
and the phrase “we are together, Vini,” was on his undershirt and visible when
Raphinha was substituted off in the second half of Barcelona’s 3-1 loss to
Valladolid on Tuesday. He raised his right fist while leaving the field.
It was the first matchday in the Spanish league since the
outpouring of support for Vinícius Júnior following the latest case of racial
abuse against the Real Madrid star forward on the weekend.
Vinícius, who is Black, has been subjected to repeated
racist taunts since he arrived in Spain five years ago. Since the Spanish
league season began in September, he has experienced racist abuse by fans of at
least five rival teams, including Valencia on Sunday.
Barcelona’s second consecutive defeat since clinching the
title with games to spare was overshadowed by the fallout from that.
Players from Barcelona and Valladolid held a banner before
the match with the words “racists out of football,” which is one of the slogans
of a campaign against racism launched jointly by the Spanish league, Spanish
federation and the government’s top sports authority.
Anti-racism slogans were also shown during the national and
international broadcast of the game.
The win moved Valladolid three points clear of the
relegation zone. The club owned by former Brazil striker Ronaldo can stay safe
going into the last two rounds if Getafe fails to win at Real Betis on
Wednesday.
Barcelona was coming off a 2-1 loss to Real Sociedad at home
after securing its first Spanish league title since 2019 in the previous round.
Valladolid, which had lost five straight matches, took a 3-0
lead with an own-goal by Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen and with goals
from Cyle Larin and Gonzalo Plata. Robert Lewandowski, the league’s leading
scorer, netted late for Barcelona.
“Beating Barcelona gives us a lot of confidence going
forward,” Plata said. “Now we have two finals left and hopefully we can reach
our goal of staying in the first division.”
SOCIEDAD CLOSER TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Real Sociedad strengthened its hold on the final Champions
League spot with a 1-0 home win over 10-man Almeria.
Takefusa Kubo scored the winner in first-half stoppage time
to give Sociedad its second straight victory — and fourth in five matches.
The win allowed Sociedad to open an eight-point gap to
fifth-place Villarreal, which hosts relegation-threatened Cadiz on Wednesday.
Sociedad will clinch the Champions League place if Villarreal fails to beat
Cadiz.
Almeria, sitting four points from the relegation zone, has
lost three of its last five games. It had forward Luis Suárez sent off with a
straight red card in the 36th.
CELTA VIGO HELD
Celta Vigo opened a five-point gap to the bottom three after
a 1-1 draw with Girona.
Celta got on the board first with a goal by Carles Pérez in
the 42nd. The visitors equalized with a penalty kick converted by Cristhian
Stuani in the 59th. Stuani scored on his second attempt after the first was
saved by the goalkeeper. The penalty was ordered to be retaken because a Celta
player entered the area before the kick.
Celta has won only one of its last 10 matches. Eighth-place
Girona is winless in three games. -AP
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