Vinícius Júnior hails Lamine Yamal for condemning anti-Muslim chants

Madrid – Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior on Monday publicly praised Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal for denouncing anti-Muslim chants directed at players during Spain’s friendly against Egypt in Madrid last Tuesday, underlining that footballers must present a united front against all forms of discrimination.

Yamal, who is Muslim, labelled the songs “disrespectful and intolerable,” prompting Vinícius—himself a frequent target of racist abuse since moving to European football—to voice support for his Clásico rival.

“It’s always complicated to speak about these things, but these incidents happen a lot,” Vinícius told reporters on the eve of Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich. “It’s important that Lamine speaks about it. It could help others. We are famous, we have money, we can balance these things better, but the poor people and the Blacks who are everywhere, they surely struggle more than we do. So we have to stick together, those who have a stronger voice—the players.”

The Brazil international, who last month accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of calling him a monkey during a Champions League tie in Lisbon, stressed that racism is a global issue rather than the fault of any single nation.

“I’m not saying that Spain or Germany or Portugal are racist countries, but there are racists in these countries, and in Brazil and other countries as well,” he said. “If we keep fighting together, I think future players and people in general won’t have to go through this again.”

Vinícius ended his remarks by reiterating the need for collective action: “Hopefully we can continue with this fight.”