By Joiner Martinez
Sep 16, 2024, 4:42 PM EDT
Dani Carvajal spoke to the media ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League debut. The Whites open the game this Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabéu against Stuttgart.
Carvajal defended Vinícius once again after his gesture at Anoeta, ordering the crowd to be quiet while celebrating his goal. In response to this gesture, the defender said that “he is not left in peace.”
“What about Vinícius at Anoeta? We hear the insults towards him from inside. When someone gets poked, they bleed. They don’t leave him in peace,” criticised the full-back, the first to speak and who even called for “tougher protocols” to stop racism in stadiums.
Without specifying whether that was the reason for Vinícius’ reaction in San Sebastian: “Whenever I appear before the press, I say it. We are all clear: racist insults must be stopped. If stricter protocols must be created to eradicate them, then so be it.”
A few weeks ago, during the training camp of the Spanish national team, the Leganés player had already spoken out along the same lines on the matter: “We support Vinicius internally and publicly. LaLiga is improving to stop the undesirables and to prevent them from accessing sporting events again. I know what he suffers.” Ancelotti, who appeared afterwards, went even a step further and described the atmosphere with the ‘7’ as “unbearable”.
“His gesture in San Sebastian is a reaction to a very bad, very ugly action that has been repeated: insults from the beginning. Nobody could put up with what he put up with. Neither could I. The gesture of putting his hand to his mouth seems normal to me,” he said, while inviting everyone to turn their attention to the behaviour of the rival fans and not to the attitudes of his player.
“What has happened to him since he arrived in Spain is unbearable. I can understand the booing of an opponent, but the insults during the warm-up, no. You can’t stand it. It’s not normal. You should pay less attention to the figure of this young man (Vinícius) and more attention to what happens in the stadiums,” he advised. The reason is also clear: “They do this with Vinicius because they believe he is a danger on a sporting level and they try to unsettle him.”
On the other hand, Carvajal invited everyone to “dream” of another Champions League, his seventh, and said that he sees it as “positive” that Los Blancos have not yet reached their best form: “We have room for improvement in our game and in terms of fitness, but that is good. Injuries are affecting us quite a bit. Tomorrow is a good opportunity to show in the competition that we like it.” The match against the Germans will serve to baptise Mbappé in the European nights at the Bernabéu: “He will see what the Champions League is like here. He will remember it forever.”
Continue reading:
Eighth injury of the season: Real Madrid loses Brahim Díaz for 3 months
Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad on penalties from Vinícius and Mbappé
Ancelotti complains about the calendar again: “Players get injured because they play too much”