A racism scandal has overshadowed the final of the Spanish basketball league between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. 18-year-old Nigerian Barça pro James Nnaji is said to have been racially abused by a crowd as he got off the team bus before the third match in Madrid. FC Barcelona condemned the incident in a communiqué on Wednesday and called for “a decisive and exemplary response” from the ACB league.
The foul abuse can be heard in videos released by Spanish media. The game that saw the Catalans crowned champions was on Tuesday. As of Thursday, neither ACB nor Real Madrid had commented on the scandal.
Barça coach Sarunas Jasikevicius compared the incident to the recent racist attacks against Madrid soccer star Vinicius Junior and indirectly accused Real of applying a double standard.
“We are very upset about this”
“That’s unfortunate. I think that shouldn’t be the case. I hear a lot about Vinicius and now we have to talk about what happened now,” the Lithuanian coach told journalists. “I guess that’s not in line with the values of Real Madrid and the club’s supporters. We’re very upset about that,” he said.
The racist attacks against Vinicius had caused a stir in Spain and internationally a month ago. During the “Royal” game at FC Valencia on May 21 (0-1), the Brazilian was racially insulted from the stands.
Hans-Günter Kellner, Madrid Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 15 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 4
Three suspects were arrested just two days after the incident. Real Madrid filed a hate crime complaint and prosecutors began investigating. Parts of the stands at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia have been suspended for three games.