Speaking in an interview with El Pais, Barcelona winger Raphinha expressed solidarity with Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Jr. in the latter’s fight against the issue of racism in football.
Vinicius has been repeatedly subjected to racist abuse by some sections of opposition fans in La Liga over the past year or so.
The Brazilian has stood unfazed in the face of the vile practice, emerging as the face of the fight against racism not only in La Liga but in football in general.
Raphinha, who shares the dressing room with Vinicius in the Brazilian national team, discussed how the 24-year-old is affected by the issue of racism, while saying he understands the Real Madrid star’s position.
“Of course I do. We don’t know what happened in his childhood. We don’t know the things he heard when he was little. These things push people to their limit and it bothers him a lot,” said Raphinha.
“Vinicius is a very smiling boy, he is always making jokes. The only issue that bothers him a lot is this one, I understand his anger. But I’m not in his situation, so I can’t tell him what I would do in his place.”
Raphinha also touched upon the racist abuse Lamine Yamal, Ansu Fati, and he experienced during the Clasico last week at the Santiago Bernabeu, saying:
“Of course it bothers you, we are doing our job. We know that the fans of the other team can try to do everything to make things go wrong and that we have to be focused, but when they insult you and those insults are directed elsewhere, it’s more complicated.
“I spoke to Ansu [Fati] afterwards and he told us what had happened to him. He was sadder. With Lamine, we heard that they were saying things to us, but we didn’t understand exactly what they were saying.
“But Ansu understood. After the match, we watched the videos and that’s when we realised what they had told us.”
Raphinha also touched upon the heated interaction between Vinicius and some Barcelona stars during which the Real Madrid ace told his opponents that he would win the Ballon d’Or.
When asked if the 24-year-old said the same to him as well, the winger replied: “Not really. After the game we met, but we tried to talk about other things.
“In the end, we live football 24 hours a day and when we see each other we ask each other about our families, who know each other. We talk about life.”