FOOTBALL fans split opinion on Sunday evening after a Valencia defender produced an astonishing piece of gamesmanship against Vinicius Jr.
The Real Madrid superstar, 22, was the subject of alleged racial abuse from a Valencia fan during the second half of Los Blancos’ 1-0 defeat.
Moments earlier, the Brazilian was left baffled when attacking down the left flank.
The South American forward flew down the wing and looked set to beat right-back Dimitri Foulquie for pace.
But as he approached the edge of the box, Valencia centre-back Eray Comert spotted a second ball on the pitch – which was sat in the penalty area.
Noticing the danger of the flying Real man, Comert kicked the dead ball at Vinicius, knocking the active ball out of play.
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The incident also sent the Brazilian star tumbling, before he got back up to remonstrate with the referee.
And fans on social media were divided by Comert’s unsporting act.
One said: “Elite s***housery.”
But another user offered a differing view, saying: “The way the whole situation was handled was a joke, not surprised he ended up getting sent off.”
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Shortly after the incident with the two balls, Vinicius pointed to a fan behind the goal after he was allegedly the victim of racist abuse.
The game was temporarily suspended, before a chaotic brawl in stoppage time led to Vinicius Jr being sent off after a VAR review.
And Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was furious with the whole handling of the situation.
He said: “You can’t play football like this. This is too serious, they throw a ball on the field, they insult Vinicius all the time, and they take the red card from him.”
He then went on to add: “What are we talking about? We are in 2023, there can be no racism. We have to go home.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
