{"id":71217,"date":"2023-05-27T14:05:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T14:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/27\/valencia-racism-fine-and-stadium-closure-reduced\/"},"modified":"2023-05-27T14:05:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T14:05:24","slug":"valencia-racism-fine-and-stadium-closure-reduced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/05\/27\/valencia-racism-fine-and-stadium-closure-reduced\/","title":{"rendered":"Valencia racism fine and stadium closure reduced"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano players held a banner saying “racists out of football” in support of Vinicius Jr before Wednesday’s La Liga match at the Bernabeu
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Valencia\u2019s punishment following the racist abuse of Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr has been reduced on appeal.<\/p>\n

The partial closure of the La Liga club\u2019s Mestalla Stadium has been reduced from five to three matches.<\/p>\n

And their fine has been cut from 45,000 euros to 27,000 euros (\u00a323,400) after the Spanish Football Federation appeals committee said it had decided to \u201cpartially uphold\u201d Valencia\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n

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Brazil\u2019s Vinicius, 22, was subjected to racist chants from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Spanish police have detained\u00a0three people in connection\u00a0with the abuse and Real Madrid, who said it constituted a \u201chate crime\u201d, have\u00a0reported it to the Spanish prosecutor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Valencia were given 10 days to appeal against their\u00a0fine and partial stadium closure, which they argued was \u201cdisproportionate, unjust and unprecedented\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cValencia have collaborated from the first minute with the police and all relevant authorities to clarify the events that occurred,\u201d a statement from the club read following the initial punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, we have applied the maximum possible sanction with the ban for life from our stadium for racist behaviour of the fans identified by police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference, Valencia head coach Ruben Baraja added: \u201cI am not going to allow the Valencia CF fans and Mestalla to be smeared with labels that do not represent us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In explaining the partial stadium closure, the Spanish Football Federation had said: \u201cIt is considered proven that, as reflected by the referee in his minutes, there were racist shouts at Vinicius, altering the normal course of the match and considering the infractions very serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The partial stadium closure will apply to the Mestalla Stadium\u2019s south stand, an area a clearly angry and emotional Vinicius was seen pointing to during Sunday\u2019s second half before reporting the issue to the referee.<\/p>\n

He was sent off in the 97th minute of the 1-0 defeat, but the red card was later overturned by Spain\u2019s competition committee.<\/p>\n

Vinicius Jr reacted angrily after the game, saying on social media that\u00a0\u201cLa Liga belongs to racists\u201d, opening up a wider debate on the issue in the country.<\/p>\n

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