Police have detained seven men over separate alleged hate crime incidents against Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr, as Spain's football league urged changes to law that would enable it to take steps to curb racism in stadiums.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has expressed support for Vinicius Jr, whom he expected would remain at the club.
He lambasts Spain's "obsolete" protocols to deal with racism in the sport and says he would consider taking his players off the pitch, if they are abused again during a game.
Puma, sponsor of both Valencia and LaLiga, has also offered its support to Vinicius Jr, as has Spanish bank Santander, whose title sponsorship with LaLiga ends after this season.
A hate crime investigation has opened, after an inflatable effigy dressed in the No.20 jersey of Vinicius Jr was hung from a bridge in front of the club's training grounds. Alongside it was a 16m red-and-white banner - the colours of rival team Atletico Madrid - that read "Madrid hates Real".
Four men were arrested in Madrid, police say, three of whom were members of "a radical group of fans of a Madrid club", who were previously flagged during matches as "high risk" to help curb violence during games.
Three men were also arrested in Valencia for racist conduct aimed at Vinicius in a match between Valencia and Real Madrid, police have tweeted.
After slurs were aimed at Vinicius Jr during a Spanish league match on Sunday, Vinicius Jr, in a social media post, called the racist abuse "inhuman", and asked sponsors and broadcasters to hold LaLiga accountable.
LaLiga says it feels "impotent" to tackle the issue while Spanish legislation limited its actions to merely detecting and reporting racist incidents.
It urged that the law be modified, so it could cancel matches and ban fans from stadiums, if racist behaviour is detected.
Vinicius has expressed frustration that LaLiga has not exerted pressure on the Spanish football federation, which does have the power to apply stadium closures and bans, according to sources close to the player.
The federation can cancel a match, if racist insults continue after a 10-minute period in which the game is paused and the crowd warned. To date, no match in Spain has enforced it.
The Brazilian player is particularly aggrieved by comments made by LaLiga president Javier Tebas, in which he accused the player of failing to turn up to meetings, so LaLiga could explain what it has done to address racism.
Vinicius was initially receptive to a meeting, if it was held behind closed doors, according to the sources, but turned it down, believing the LaLiga administrator was seeking publicity by holding it at its Madrid offices.
LaLiga declined to comment on the proposed meeting with Vinicius, while the football federation did not respond to a request for comment about its powers to cancel matches.
The federation and LaLiga say they are launching a campaign until the end of the season against racism.
Reuters
