BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Vinícius Júnior scored twice to lead Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw against Valencia in the Spanish league on Saturday in his first return to Mestalla Stadium, where he was subjected to racist abuse last season.
Jude Bellingham showed a red card after the final whistle when he protested the referee’s decision to disallow what would have been the winning goal. The referee ruled that time had expired just before Bellingham’s final header.
Vinícius scored in the 50th and 76th minutes to erase goals from Hugo Duro and Roman Yaremchuk in the first half.
The racial attack last May was one of the worst that the black player has had to suffer in multiple events in Spain. This has sparked a resurgence of the Brazilian striker and forced the football government to take action, even as the abuses against him continue.
While there were no immediate reports of additional racial slurs on Saturday, a group of spectators chanted “Vinícius is stupid” and booed him loudly throughout the match.
After his first goal, Vinícius raised his fist to signal the goal to the Valencians. After the equaliser, he covered his ears as if to ask for more from the fans who were mocking him.
While Valencia banned three fans for life from their stadium after it emerged they had racist abuse of Vinícius last season, the club has criticised the player and Madrid for what it considers an unfair categorisation of its fan base as predominantly racist.
In a brief interview with the Madrid club’s television, Vinícius did not mention the fans and only said that it was “a very complicated match”. But on his Instagram account he posted a symbol of himself raising his fist after his first goal with the short. “The fight continues. “
“Vinícius played a very intelligent game,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “He’s decisive for us, even if he’s more effective inside the box than outside. (Defender Dimitri) Foulquier had a very clever game protecting the box, so he had to locate his spaces inside the box and scored two very important goals for us.
Madrid leads the league with a seven-point lead over Girona and a nine-point lead over Barcelona heading into Sunday’s games.
Duro took advantage of his header to deflect what looked like a stray shot from Fran Perez in the minute after Federico Valverde lost the ball on a risky pass.
Three minutes later, Yaremchuk intercepted Dani Carvajal’s pass into his own box, where the Ukrainian striker jumped, dribbled past goalkeeper Andriy Lunin and brought the ball into the net.
But Madrid held off one in first-half stoppage time when Carvajal’s cross grazed three players before locating Vinícius to push him home. Vinícius was successful even when he headed in a cross from substitute Brahim Diaz.
Valencia defender Mouctar Diakhaby was taken off on a stretcher after a clear leg injury when Aurélien Tchouaméni collided with him in the final minutes.
BELLINGHAM EXPLAINED
Bellingham, who leads La Liga with 16 goals, arrives at Madrid after missing 3 games with a sprained ankle.
The England midfielder celebrating what would have been a last-gasp header when referee Jesus Gil Manzano signaled too late. Surrounded by protesting Madrid players, Gil Manzano showed Bellingham a red card.
Gil Manzano said in his referee’s report that Bellingham had “aggressively run him by shouting repeatedly” with an insult in English to describe the goal.
FIRE VICTIMS
It was Valencia’s first match in two weeks, after the last-round match was postponed in tribute to those affected by a fatal fire in the Mediterranean city.
Before kick-off, the two groups formed a guard of honour for the representatives of the victims and the security and rescue services and observed a minute’s silence.
THE COMPANY LOSES
Real Sociedad lost 3-2 in Seville as the Basque Country club continued to battle ahead of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Sociedad hosts PSG on Tuesday to suffer a 2-0 defeat in the first leg of the round of 16.
Imanol Alguacil’s Sociedad are having a good season but have lost five of their last six games in all competitions. They were knocked out of the Copa del Rey semi-finals by Mallorca in front of their fans in San Sebastian this week.
INJURED MAYOR
Getafe striker Borja Mayoral, who has 15 league goals, had to be substituted after the deadline in his side’s 3-3 draw at Las Palmas with an obvious injury to his left leg.
Getafe lost 2-0 and 3-2. Las Palmas completed their comeback with Munir El Haddadi’s decisive equaliser.
HAIL STORM
Rayo Vallecano’s 1-1 draw at home to Cadiz was interrupted for several minutes in the second half when hail fell on the turf in heavy rain.
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