RFEF hit back at Real Madrid's complaint over Vinicius Junior abuse
- RFEF deliver verdict on Real Madrid complaint over referee's report
- Jose Martinez Munuera omitted alleged racist abuse towards Vinicius Jr
- Osasuna accepted player was abused but claimed it wasn't racist
By 90min Staff
The Spanish football federation (RFEF) has put "total and unconditional support" behind La Liga referee Juan Martinez Munuera following a complaint from Real Madrid regarding the omission of alleged racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior from his match report over the weekend.
Madrid beat Osasuna, but attention afterwards was focused on the abuse aimed at Vinicius and the club claimed that Munuera "voluntarily and deliberately omitted the insults and humiliating shouts… despite being warned insistently by our players at the same time they were occurring."
Osasuna denied that any chanting aimed at Madrid players were of a racist nature. Munuera's post-match report noted one instance of death threats being aimed at Vinicius from a section of Osasuna fans and another of heckling the player after being yellow carded.
RFEF's Technical Competition Committee, to whom the complaints was submitted, described the accusations levelled at Munuera as "unfair".
Their statement read: "We must clarify that, once the audios of the match were reviewed, no indication was heard from any Real Madrid CF player regarding this issue nor, after the match, did the club delegate inform the referee of any incident related to these shouts or chants.
"Real Madrid CF is unaware that the Reporting Official of the match, who belongs to the Technical Committee of Referees, did reflect in his report those public incidents that he considered significant, fulfilling his duties as a Specialised Official in the fight against violence, racism and xenophobia granted by the General Regulations of the RFEF."
RFEF went on to stress their commitment to the "fight against all types of violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance".
Vinicius has been targeted by racist chanting on several occasions in recent seasons.