La Liga will be reporting racist abuse targeting Barcelona players during El Clasico on Saturday to the relevant authorities. The Spanish topflight issued a statement on Sunday addressing the insults that Barca individuals were subjected to during their 4-0 win away at Real Madrid.
Video footage already appeared to capture the abuse aimed at Lamine Yamal as he scored the third of the Catalan giants’ four goals at Santiago Bernabeu. The UEFA Euro 2024 winner was celebrating scoring as part of an emphatic win which also saw Robert Lewandowski score twice and Raphinha also tally — all in the second half.
La Liga swiftly moved to “strongly condemn” the actions and announced that it will immediately report the racist behavior to police and prosecutors.
“Given the events that occurred during the game between Real Madrid and Barcelona, in which intolerable racist behavior was observed, La Liga will immediately report the racist insults and gestures aimed at Barcelona players to the national police’s hate crime group, as well as informing the coordinating hate crimes prosecutor with the hate crime and discrimination unit at the state attorney general’s office,” read La Liga’s statement.
“LaLiga strongly condemns the events that occurred at the Santiago Bernabeu and remains firm in its commitment to eradicate any type of racist behavior and hatred inside and outside stadiums. There is no place for this scourge in sport.”
Real also echoed La Liga’s stance on the matter and condemned the abusive behavior exhibited during the game with the Madrid giants opening an investigation.
“Real Madrid strongly condemns any kind of behavior involving racism, xenophobia or violence in football and sport, and deeply regrets the insults made by a few fans last night in one of the corners of the stadium,” read an official club statement.
“Real Madrid has opened an investigation in order to locate and identify the perpetrators of these regrettable and despicable insults, in order to take the appropriate disciplinary and judicial measures.”
This is the latest in a long line of high-profile examples of racist abuse with Real’s Vinicius Junior a target in recent years.
Barcelona now lead La Liga by six points ahead of defending Los Blancos who missed the chance to pull level with their bitter rivals.
KVSP