Felipe Silveira, personal adviser to Real Madrid footballer Vinícius Junior, has formally denounced the police after reporting that he had received a banana from a security guard at the RCD Espanyol stadium, in Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona), before the friendly match between Brazil and Guinea.
As reported by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, the Vinícius circle that has accompanied Silveira to a police station near the stadium has assured that they once again “notice how they do not consider racism a crime in Spain.” “What caught my attention the most, after the act of racism, was how all the people, the authorities, the security chiefs, all minimized it and tried to say that it was something normal there, that is Spanish culture and life goes on. “said one of the advisers.
In addition, he has indicated that at the police station, a first police officer who attended them alerted them that there was a possibility that the judge would see the gesture as a joke and not as an offense. A second agent regretted the incident and commented that ex-soccer player Samuel Eto’o suffered racist attitudes during his professional career at FC Barcelona.
Silveira has denounced having received a banana on Saturday when he entered the stadium, when he was accompanied by three other members of Vinícius’s team, including the player’s coach, who were not offered it, because they were white.
The incident took place during the match that served as a claim for the fight against racism in football, with the Brazilian team wearing black for the first time in its more than 100-year history.
This protest arose from the latest episodes in Spanish football, when Vinícius received insults from a section of the Mestalla stands in a league match against Valencia. The Real Madrid player has also criticized having previously been a victim of racism. Before the match began, there was a minute’s silence against racism and the players knelt on the field of play in protest.
