Should we resume the match or not?
Sunday evening, the players of Valence FC left the lawn of Cadiz for 24 minutes to protest against the racist insults allegedly suffered by their central defender, the Frenchman Mouctar Diakhaby, from an opponent.
In the aftermath of the events, the Spanish press asked the question of the behavior to adopt among the players and the possibilities offered by the regulations in the event of racist allegations.
"You are not alone", took a position in the front page of the Madrid newspaper Marca.
A photo of the player with his arms crossed in the stands, his eyes dark, accompanies this first page.
A scathing editorial ensued, lamenting that the match had not been stopped.
đź—ž @marca y @SpheraSports llevan como tema principal hoy el presunto insulto racista from Juan Cala to Mouctar Diakhaby in el Estadio RamĂłn de Carranza.
Con distinto enfoque, eso sĂ.
📰 Esta polémica ocupa a residual space in las portadas de @diarioas, @mundodeportivo y @sport.
pic.twitter.com/DilU6vg0qX
- Aritz González Gutiérrez (@Aritz_Gonzalez) April 4, 2021
“There is racism in football as in life.
Another golden opportunity to denounce it correctly was missed, regrets journalist Roberto Palomar.
The others have returned.
The match has been played.
And it was played as a proof of support, on the part of Valencia, and who knows as an act of contrition or normality on the part of Cadiz.
Maybe Valencia lacked a decision to shit
(sic)
on all three points.
Diakhaby remained in the stands, looking humiliated, and no one really knew how to react to his situation.
Not even with the supreme gesture of not playing the match (...) Diakhaby, in the stands, with his black raincoat, his mask and his gaze lost towards the lawn, where others were playing, is a defeat for the humanity.
What a defeat ...!
".
Did the referee threaten Valencia to lose the match?
If the specialized media Sphera Sports was also moved by the recovery ("Indignant but not too much", he commented), the rest of the Spanish sports press has been more neutral and more discreet on the subject.
The Cadiz player Juan Cala denies any racist insult, and in the absence of clear images, it is difficult for the moment to decide.
“Mouctar Diakhaby, once warned for having quarreled with an opponent, told me verbatim:
“ He called me a fucking nigger ”
in reference to player No. 16 of CF Juan Torres Ruiz de Cadiz.
This fact was not perceived by any member of the refereeing team ”, indicated the referee of the meeting in his report.
“Cala says he never insulted the player at any time.
I have to believe my player, commented Cadiz coach Alvaro Cervera.
He didn't tell me he hadn't told him anything, he told me he hadn't insulted him.
"" I know Diakhaby well ... he would not have abandoned the match for no reason, "reacted for his part Eliaquim Mangala, the French midfielder and former international from Valencia, currently injured.
Conozco bien a Diakhaby ... no habrĂa abandonado el partido sin una razĂłn ...
El racismo no debe estar en el fĂştbol y en ningĂşn otro lugar ... pronto sabremos las razones ..
Hasta que sepamos más: fuerza para ti hermano 👊 🏿 # cadizvalencia #amuntValencia
- Eliaquim Mangala (@ Elia22Mangala) April 4, 2021
Word against word therefore, but there is also the question of settlement.
The Valencian club affirms that the refereeing body “forced” him to return to the pitch at the risk of losing all three points on the green carpet.
And that Diakhaby "asked his teammates to return to the pitch to fight."
The Spanish Federation denies having threatened the Valencia team.
La Liga has not yet wished to react, limiting itself to responding that the report of the refereeing body, where these incidents were clearly and at length detailed, could possibly lead to an investigation.
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Four months after the incident at PSG-Basaksehir, this new case of racism in a Spanish football stadium comes just over two months before the Euro (June 11-July 11), including one of the host cities will be Bilbao.