“I will submit to all the questions you ask me”. open in channel. This is how Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, showed himself in his first public appearance after all the worldwide controversy created as a result of the racist insults suffered by Vinicius Júnior in Mestalla last Sunday, the tenth time that the Brazilian player has been subjected to it. “These are my worst days as president because I am not a racist. And when someone accuses you of being racist, it hurts you,” he said, affected.
More than 50 national and international media outlets gathered at the LaLiga headquarters, many of them from Brazil, and almost 100 joined through online transmission. “Sorry if you were offended by the tweet, but I did not mean to accuse you”. That is what Thebes has admitted that he would say to Vinicius after everything he has lived through these days if he could talk to him.
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Thebes, who on Monday rushed to answer Vinicius through his social networks, wanted to start with a small personal reflection before being questioned by the media, summarizing his relationship with the Brazilian since he arrived in Spain, recalling that “when They asked me who could replace Messi as a figure in the League, I said that without a doubt Vinicius”. “That surprised, but I have always highlighted. It will be Ballon d'Or. He is a very important asset for his club and for Spanish football.”
“Here they sang 'subnormal Messi'”
Later, the president of LaLiga went ahead to remember everything that his organization has done to try to stop racist insults in Spanish football. “We have a very important history fighting against racism and against any serious cry that is made in the stadiums. Before in the stadiums racist and homophobic shouts were sung, I remember Roberto Carlos, complete stadiums, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, shouts of “subnormal Messi”, and we insisted from LaLiga that this had to disappear, and it did”.
Thebes, who asked for “more powers”, also remembered the “personal cost” that these decisions had caused him: “Some presidents said that we wanted the stadiums to be an opera. We won that battle and not without personal cost, because I had to have an escort, they harassed me at home, but we did it.”
“I was wrong, sure”
Questioned by the Brazilian press, Tebas confessed that “I didn't want to criticize Vinicius. It could be that it was my mistake, I was wrong, sure, but for me this fight against racism has been like this all my life.”. “I did not intend to criticize him, but to give the information because the reality is that LaLiga is doing many things. It is normal for him to be frustrated and not know who has powers, but I am frustrated because I do know.”. From Brazil they also tried to tickle him, asking him how many colored workers he had in LaLiga: “If I counted them, it would be racist. But we have them, in Angola, also Asian…. There is no discrimination here.”
Thebes admitted that “I have not spoken with Vinicius during these days”. “I think it is better that this calms down, I think that now he was not going to contribute, but I have no problem talking to him or his environment. I am sure and I hope and wish that he continues in Spanish football, I want to show him that if we have the skills to fight against racism, this will end. The day I can I'll tell him. tell him we are not racist. Everything that is said against Spain hurts me.”
“You don't fight against racism for one or two days”
The president of LaLiga also criticized Madrid, which denounced the events at Mestalla but “did not join any of LaLiga's previous complaints about racist insults to Vinicius”. “You don't fight against racism for one or two days,” he declared, and recalled that “on the issue of the Vinicius doll hanging from the Valdebebas bridge, the only person was LaLiga.”
The image of LaLiga has been touched since the incident with Vinicius, and Tebas stressed that they have spoken with the sponsors of the competition to “explain everything we have done. Not only the campaigns, but also the facts. You have to fight in court.”
Thebes, who insisted that “Spain is not racist, but it does have racist situations”, was affected by everything that happened these days. “They have not been good days for the president of Laliga, I have been accused of racism and it affects me”. “Many times cosmetic things are done, there is a lot of pickaxe and little shovel. What you have to do is to denounce, which we do. This,” he assured, showing LaLiga’s denunciations.