Real Madrid on Monday lodged a criminal complaint over racist abuse against their forward Vinicius Junior. 

On Sunday, a match at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia was stopped for 10 minutes after Vinicius pointed out fans who were allegedly shouting racist comments at him.

Spanish prosecutors in Valencia opened a probe into the racist chants, according to the AFP news agency. 

Real Madrid said it saw that the abuse constituted a "hate crime." It added that it filed the complaint with the State Attorney General's Office "in order for the facts to be investigated and for those responsible to be held accountable." 

The probe came after the 22-year-old Brazilian forward received support from the Brazilian president, FIFA and fellow stars such as Kylian Mbappe.

"I am sorry for those Spaniards who disagree but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists," Vinicius wrote on Twitter after the game. 

Spain has 'a serious problem'

Luis Rubiales, the chief of Spain's football federation, sided with Vinicius, admitting that racism was an issue in Spanish soccer. 

"The first thing is to recognize that we have a problem in our country," Rubiales said at a press conference in Madrid on Monday.

It is "a serious problem that also stains an entire team, an entire fan base, an entire club, an entire country," he added. 

LaLiga President Javier Tebas was, however, defiant. He wrote on Twitter that the league is doing enough, and called on Vinicius to inform himself "before you criticize and slander LaLiga."

Rubiales criticized Tebas's comments, which he said were "irresponsible behaviour."

"Probably Vinicius is more right than we think and we all need to do more about racism," Rubiales said.

Brazil's government calls for action against 'episodes of racism'

Brazil's government has meanwhile condemned what it said were "recurring episodes of racism" against Vinicius. The Foreign Ministry called in a Monday statement on sponsors and the government to take action.

"Taking into account the seriousness of the facts and the occurrence of yet another inadmissible episode, the Brazilian government deeply regrets that, until now, effective measures have not been taken to prevent and avoid the repetition of these acts of racism," the statement said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addressed the incident during a press conference on the G7 meeting. He called on FIFA, the Spanish league and other football leagues to take serious action "because we cannot allow fascism and racism to take over football stadiums."

Vinicius was slammed a Red Card toward the end of the Sunday game with Valencia, after a mass altercation.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry also condemned the Sunday incident as "racism," suggesting that the player's sending off was a racist act. 

Addressing a seminar on African partnership on Monday, Brazil's Secretary General for Foreign Relations Maria Laura da Rocha said fans have "persistently" exercised racism against the Brazilian footballer. 

"Vinicius Jr received a red card for not enduring all that. The red card should have been given to racism," she said.

Another Vinicius complaint 

Under Spanish laws, people convicted of racist behavior can be fined up to €4,000 ($4,403) and banned from stadiums for a year. But the country's penal code makes it difficult to prosecute such incidents in the first place. 

Last September, prosecutors dropped a complaint of racist chants against Vinicius during another game. Prosecutors said at the time that the chants, which were fans calling him a "monkey," had "only lasted a few seconds." 

According to the Interior Ministry, only three cases of racist acts were investigated during the 2021-22 season.

With 23 goals this season, Vinicius is Real Madrid's second top scorer this season, behind Karim Benzema, who has scored 29 goals.  

fb/wd (AFP, Reuters)