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Xavi shows solidarity with Vinicius Jr against racist abuse

Spain-based journalist Graham Hunter joined The Football Show to discuss the latest incident of ...



Spain-based journalist Graham Hunter joined The Football Show to discuss the latest incident of racist abuse aimed at Vinicius Jr and how Xavi has shown solidarity with him.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are as fierce rivals as they come.

Not many teams in the world can say that one side had a pig's head thrown at a player during a game. In fact, it's probably just the one. But some things are bigger than sport, bigger than football. And legendary Barcelona player Xavi understands that.

Xavi is now the manager of Barcelona and has been in the position for two seasons.

And when he was asked about the latest incident of racist abuse against Vinicius Jr, he immediately showed solidarity with his on-field rival. Graham Hunter explained.

"Xavi today has spoken," Hunter explained.

"[He said] 'In that context, I will take a team off a pitch. And somebody chirped up to Xavi Hernandez the Barcelona manager in the press conference saying 'Well, this is Real Madrid' and he's like club colours, club crests don't come into this.

"This is a human issue. We stand together. Courtois talked about being personally insulted. Xavi talked about being personally insulted."

Vinicius Jr received a red card at the end of the game against Valencia when a scuffle broke out between Real Madrid players and their opponents. But the footage suggests that Vinicius was not the instigator of the confrontation and that he was actually choked by an opponent who went unpunished.

The Valencia goalkeeper who sprinted to start the furor also went unpunished.

This came at the end of a game where Vinicius suffered racist abuse before the game and during the game. He even singled out a specific fan who was making monkey chants in his direction. Despite the barrage of abuse that went his way, it appears that Vinicius is the only one who will suffer for it.

And as such, Xavi, amongst others, is showing his support of the Madrid player.

 

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