The proceedings initiated after the racist insults received by Vinicius on Sunday at Mestalla have continued to advance this Friday on their two fronts, the judicial and that of the sports authorities. The Appeal Committee of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has lowered the initial sanction of 45,000 euros and five closing matches of the Kempes stand. The punishment is finally 27,000 euros and three closing matches, after partially estimating the allegations of Valencia, which argued that it had taken preventive measures, although they were not enough to prevent the attack on the player.
At the level of ordinary justice, the head of the court of instruction number 10 of Valencia has notified today the resolution by which it has initiated preliminary proceedings to investigate the insults to the Brazilian of Real Madrid for the possible commission of a hate crime in the match against Valencia. The magistrate has cited as investigated the three spectators arrested on Tuesday by the National Police. Before testifying, the three investigated must appear before the judicial body.
The judge has already added to these preliminary proceedings the complaint filed for the same facts by LaLiga, which already appears as a person in the case as a private accusation. In addition, he has already warned the courts of Madrid to enable the necessary technical means to take a statement by videoconference to Vinicius, as an injured party, something that the Brazilian already did in the case opened in a court in Mallorca for another episode of racist insults happened on February 5 in the Mallorca-Real Madrid in Son Moix.
On the other hand, in response to the conduct of investigative measures requested in its complaint by the League, the order reflects that the images recorded on the incidents have already been collected and examined by the National Police and are incorporated into the report. However, the magistrate has decided to send an official letter to Valencia in order to urge him to keep that audiovisual material, from the 72nd minute of the match, in case at any time of the instruction it had to be required.
In addition, the court will summon the Valencian club to identify some security guards who were working on the day of the match to be able to summon them to testify as witnesses.
Shortly after, it began to be intuited that Vinicius would not be in the first outing of Madrid after the tsunami of Valencia. The Brazilian did not appear this morning in the training section open to the press, and Carlo Ancelotti later confirmed that the Brazilian would not travel to Seville for tomorrow's match Saturday at the Sánchez Pizjuán (19.00, Dazn): "He does not travel because he cannot play, just this. Because if he had a chance, he would travel and try to play. The knee continues to bother him, it is not because it is away from home or at home. He can't play, period. And hopefully I can play the last game." Neither will be in the meeting Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio and Mariano, all three with physical problems.
Saturday's meeting in Seville was presented as the first commitment in which to check if the events of Mestalla and the subsequent general turmoil had meant any change in the behavior with the Brazilian of the rival fans. Almost a week later, Vinicius remains at the center of all conversations, something that José Luis Mendilibar, the Sevilla coach, has tried to defuse in a press conference, when asked if he thinks his fans could send a message against racism: "Here we are against everything bad that can happen. This is now becoming a fad. Period."
In spite of everything, as happened in the courts of Valencia, in Madrid, the matter has not stopped rolling. The ambassador of Brazil in Spain, Orlando Leite, visited in the morning the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, and both agreed to condemn "energetically any racist manifestation and commit to continue fighting against this scourge that affects sport and compromises the image of Spain, a welcoming country. " Leite then met with the president of the Federation, Luis Rubiales, with whom he agreed "that racism has no place in football."
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