the president of LaLigaJavier Tebas, said this Thursday that he did not intend to “criticize Vinícius Júnior” with his post directed at the striker of Real Madrid. The manager said that he considers him a “different player”, who is “a very important asset for his club and LaLiga”.
“I didn’t mean to criticize Vinicius,” Tebas said at a press conference. “I consider that my frustration was my mistake, I understand that Vinicius is frustrated because he doesn’t understand skills, but I’m also frustrated because I know them and there were no sanctions”, he added.
Tebas said that he did not speak with Vinícius, but that he is willing to do so and that he would apologize. “I’m sorry if I offended you, but I didn’t want to accuse him. I’d tell him I’m just as frustrated as he is.”
Tebas sparked controversy with a reaction on Twitter to Vinícius’ criticism of LaLiga, asking the player that “before insulting LaLiga, he would need to inform himself properly”.
“A great player”
Tebas recalled that the sanctioning capacity belongs to the Spanish Football Federation and again asked for a punitive capacity. “We want skills because with skills we are sure that in months we will solve this problem”, he added.
The president of LaLiga recalled that when he assumed the presidency of the competition in 2013, in the stadiums, racist and homophobic screams were sung in chorus. “I remember shouting at Messi, as if he were abnormal, against people with mental disorders.”
“In LaLiga, we insisted that this had to disappear from the stadiums and we did it”, said Tebas, reinforcing that “he is very aware that Vinícius is being insulted because he is a great player and that generates envy”.
The president of LaLiga complained that he did not have the support of other institutions in his complaints to the Justice for racist acts in stadiums, especially in the case of the Brazilian. “In all these complaints we were always alone, no institution accompanied us and in the case of Vinícius not even Real Madrid”, explained Tebas.
“A different player”
Tebas, whose organization has already filed several complaints for cases related to Vinícius, recalled that in a match in Mallorca he denounced some insults to the player, which not even the player himself had noticed.
“Vinicius is a different player, he is not common. I am almost convinced that he will win the Ballon d’Or in the future”, added Tebas, hoping that he continues in the Spanish Championship because “he is a very important asset for his club and the LaLiga”.
“Since we are seeing this situation, we have been especially attentive in Vinicius’ games away from home,” said Tebas, referring to possible insults to the player.
The LaLiga president admitted he was concerned about how what happened could influence the image of the competition, but insisted that “Spain is not a racist country and Spanish football is not racist”.
“It’s a blow we’ve received, but we’re not going to cry, but we’re going to work to recover the reputation we may have lost. It doesn’t correspond to reality,” added Tebas, who believes that this controversy will not affect the candidacy of Spain, Portugal and Morocco world Cup of 2030.
“I hope it doesn’t have consequences, we’re showing what we’re doing and we’re going to improve, I don’t think (it will have consequences), there are many years to go,” Tebas said.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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