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Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent
Spanish police have arrested three individuals in relation to racist insults aimed toward Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Raphinha throughout final month’s Clásico on the Bernabéu.
Yamal and Raphinha have been each heading in the right direction in Barça’s 4-0 win over Actual Madrid when, towards the top of the match, they obtained abuse from followers within the stadium.
“Three arrests have been made for racist insults aimed at two footballers during October’s Clásico,” the police confirmed on social media Saturday.
“Those arrested made xenophobic statements that violated the dignity and moral integrity of both players.”
The investigation was launched after LaLiga reported the incident to the police.
“The arrests follow a complaint filed by LaLiga that provided recordings of the incidents and a report from a lip-reading expert to the police,” the league mentioned in a press release Saturday.
“At LaLiga, we continue to fight to end racism inside and outside of football.”
LaLiga’s struggle in opposition to racism has been more and more within the highlight following the repeated abuse of Vinícius Júnior at stadiums throughout the nation.
Talking this week, the Actual Madrid ahead mentioned he has “suffered a lot and still suffers” due to the racism he has been subjected to since arriving within the nation in 2018.
Nevertheless, he added that progress has been made in current months, with the perpetrators more and more recognized.
In June, three Valencia followers have been jailed for eight months for racially abusing Vinícius throughout a LaLiga recreation in Could 2023, within the first verdict of its form in Spain.
In September, a Spanish courtroom handed a 12-month suspended sentence to a Mallorca supporter who used racists insults in opposition to Vinícius and Villarreal‘s Samuel Chukwueze in February 2023.
Final month, Spain’s nationwide police arrested 4 individuals accountable for a hate marketing campaign in opposition to the Brazil worldwide.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has known as for jail sentences for followers who racially abuse gamers throughout matches, telling ESPN in September the league will “take the fight to the very end.”
Vinícius was among the many first to sentence the racist insults aimed toward Barcelona’s gamers by followers in the course of the Clásico after the sport.
“What happened was terrible and there’s no room for these criminals in our society,” he mentioned. “I know that Madrid and the police will act to identify and punish the guilty.”
It’s not the primary racism case involving Barça ahead Yamal, both, who has emerged as one of many staff’s key gamers since making his debut at age 15 in 2023.
Earlier this yr, Movistar pundit Germán “Mono” Burgos was fired for a racist remark he made concerning the teenager earlier than Barça’s Champions League recreation in opposition to Paris Saint-Germain.
