(Football news) Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga has publicly apologised to Vinicius Jr for claiming that the Brazil international was being “manipulated” when he said that the league is racist. The Real Madrid winger took to social media after suffering racist abuse against Valencia and said that he faced the problem throughout the league. This prompted Tebas to respond by saying “Before you criticise and insult LaLiga, you need to inform yourself well, Vini Jr. Don’t let yourself be manipulated”.

Tebas’ comments was met with a lot of backlash, not just from Vinicius Jr but many current and former footballers, political leaders in Brazil as well as others. Speaking to ESPN Brazil, Tebas backtracked his comments by apologising and said “I think that the message, and the intention I had, was not understood by a significant number (of people), especially in Brazil. I did not want to attack Vinicius, but if most people understood it that way, I need to apologise. It was not my intention, I expressed myself badly, at a bad time.

“But I had no intention of attacking Vinicius, but rather clarifying a situation, because Vinicius had recorded a video supporting LaLiga’s actions. If I hurt someone, they thought I was racist, it’s far from reality. I feel sorry for what happened, and that’s why we denounced it. And we didn’t just denounce it, we took special actions at his games. We spoke to the clubs, so that they could provide more security, identify fans. LaLiga takes care of Vinicius. And, if they misunderstood what happened I have to apologise.”

Real Madrid players showed their support for Vinicius Jr during their 2-1 victory over Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday by wearing shirts bearing Vinicius’ number while captains of both the teams wore anti-racism armbands. A banner was displayed at the Santiago Bernadette that read “We are all Vinicius. Enough is enough” among the many others in support of him. An official LaLiga banner was also unfurled that read “Racists, out of football”. 

In a press conference, Carlo Ancelotti said “I was surprised by the decision of the (RFEF’s) competition committee. I think it is the right decision. Hopefully this issue will be solved soon. The players around Vinicius feel very affected.” 

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