La Liga: Valencia boosts survival hope amid Vinicius racism storm

MADRID — Valencia snatched a crucial 1-0 win over Real Madrid to boost their La Liga survival hopes but their win was tarnished by an ugly incident involving apparent racism aimed at Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior.

Diego Lopez struck in the first half to give Valencia the precious win.

Lopez scored from close range in the 33rd minute to help Valencia move further away from relegation danger but the match once again highlighted the issue of racism in Spain’s top flight.

Valencia’s victory helped them rise to 15th, five points clear of the relegation zone, sparking huge celebrations at full-time, with the team almost safe.

The game was halted for 10 minutes in the second-half as Vinicius pointed out fans to the referee who he said had racially abused him.

The Brazilian carried on playing but was sent off a few minutes later after he became involved in a brawl with Valencia players.

“I don’t want to talk about football, there is no meaning in talking about football today,” Real manager Carlo Ancelotti told Movistar Plus.

“What we saw is unacceptable. An entire stadium chanting racist slurs, I told the referee that he should have stopped the match.”

Ancelotti said Vinicius’s reaction was “understandable” in the circumstances.

“I asked him if he wanted to keep playing, and he stayed in the game,” the Italian said.

“LaLiga have a problem here. For me Vinicius is the most important player in the world. LaLiga has a problem, these episodes of racism have to stop the match.

“It’s the entire stadium that is insulting a player with racist chants and the match has to stop. I would say the same if we were winning 3-0, there is no other way.

“Vinicius is very sad, he is angry. Something like this can’t happen in the world we live in.”

Real had nothing to play for after exiting the Champions League following a 4-0 thrashing at Manchester City on Wednesday in their semi-final, second leg.

Valencia, however, are still fighting to avoid the drop.

With three games to go, Valencia are 13th in LaLiga on 40th points, five clear of the relegation spots. Real are third on 71 points, 14 behind champions Barcelona, who secured the title last week with four games to spare.