(Reuters) – Real Madrid have lodged a formal complaint against the referee who officiated their match against Osasuna on Saturday. The club claims that the referee failed to include alleged racist insults directed at their player Vinicius Jr in his match report, the club revealed in a statement on Monday.
Vinicius Jr, the 23-year-old Brazilian forward, managed to score two goals during Real Madrid’s 4-2 victory over Osasuna at the El Sadar Stadium. However, he has been a target of racial abuse in Spain on multiple occasions.
“Our club has taken action by filing a complaint with the Disciplinary Committee of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) against the match referee, Juan Martinez Munuera,” Real Madrid stated.
The statement continued, “The referee deliberately chose not to include the insults and offensive remarks that were repeatedly directed at our player Vinicius Jr, despite our players bringing them to his attention as they were happening.”
In addition to the complaint against the referee, Real Madrid has expanded a previous complaint they made to the state prosecutor’s office on Friday regarding hate and discrimination crimes following reports of racist chants from Atletico Madrid and Barcelona fans aimed at Vinicius Jr.
“Real Madrid strongly condemns these racist, discriminatory, and hateful acts, and calls for definitive action to be taken to eliminate the violence that our player Vinicius Junior has been enduring,” the club stressed.
Reuters reached out to the RFEF’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) for a comment on the matter.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; Editing by Ken Ferris)
