BRAZILIAN sides Flamengo and Cruzeiro sat down for 30 seconds of their game in an anti-racism protest supporting Vinicius Jr.
The Real Madrid star suffered racist abuse against Valencia and spoke out about the ordeal.
Vinicius Jr was shown support from his club, manager Carlo Ancelotti and fans following the shocking attacks.
And the campaign against racial abuse spread back to the winger’s homeland as Flamengo and Cruzeiro stood with the player.
Vinicius Jr’s ex-club Flamengo wore shirts with ‘Vini Jr’ on the front and staged a seated protest with Cruzeiro for the first 30 seconds.
In the Maracana Stadium stands, thousands of fans made a tifo which read “everyone with Vini Jr”.
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Valencia were hit with a partial closure ban of the south stand Mario Kempes at the Mestalla Stadium, for three matches.
Vinicius Jr was shown a red card during the game after a bust-up between two players.
He was dismissed after VAR showed him catching Hugo Duro’s face with his arm.
Although the Valencia striker did not receive any punishment for getting the Brazilian in a headlock moments before.
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Vinicius Jr reported abuse from home supporters during his team’s 1-0 defeat away to Valencia.
He pointed out the alleged offenders to the referee, with the match temporarily halted for around nine minutes.
Vinicius Jr sarcastically applauded and gave a peace sign to the home crowd as he left the field.
His ban was later overturned due to VAR failing to show the referee the full footage of the incident.
Meanwhile, seven people have been arrested in Spain on suspicion of the racial abuse aimed at Vinicius Jr and hanging an effigy of the player from a bridge near the club’s training ground.
Vinicius Jr was left out of Real’s next two matches against Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano.
But his team-mates all wore No. 20 shirts in his honour before the game against Vallecano, as did Real’s women’s and basketball teams.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
