Vincius’s words continue to be talked about. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, the Real Madrid star proposed a radical solution to the racism in Spain, the extent of which he denounces and of which he is regularly the target: withdraw the co-organization of the 2030 World Cup from the country, which is scheduled to host the event with Portugal and Morocco.
“If things don’t change before 2030, we’ll have to change the location of the World Cup,” the Brazilian said.
While his speech provoked an outcry, the Brazilian ambassador to Spain came to his defense. “I think it is very dangerous to comment on a sentence taken out of context. Vinicius did not say that the World Cup should be held elsewhere. He criticized racism and mentioned that Spain is a very pleasant country to live in,” Orlando Leite commented Friday on Madrid radio station Cadena SER.
“It was a hypothesis”
“As I said, there is racism all over the world and Spain is seen for what it is: an ideal country to live in – and Madrid too -, as Vinicius says. I don’t think he should correct it, because it was an assumption,” he continued.
The South American country’s political representative was the first to support the 24-year-old winger. “Spain is in no way a racist country” and “does not deserve to be deprived of the World Cup,” his teammate and captain of La Roja, Dani Carvajal, had replied after his statements. Madrid Mayor José Luis Martinez-Almeida (PP, right) had called on him to “immediately rectify his statements” while Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska had declared that “respect for diversity is part of our DNA.”
The Real winger had, however, tempered his remarks, stressing that “many people in Spain, the majority even, are not racist” but that there was “a small active group that ends up tarnishing the image of a country where life is still good”. Having become, in spite of himself, a figurehead in the fight against racism, Vinicius has been the victim of racist insults several times in La Liga. One of the incidents resulted in convictions.
- RMC Sport
