Year-long sentence for football fan who racially abused Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior and Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze.A Mallorca fan who racially abused Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior and former Villarreal player Samuel Chukwueze was sentenced to a year in prison and issued a three-year stadium ban on Thursday.
The supporter was “found guilty of two crimes against moral integrity, aggravated by the fact that he acted with racist motives”, Real Madrid said in a statement.
The abuse of Vinicius occurred during Real Madrid’s 1-0 La Liga defeat by Mallorca at their Son Moix Stadium in February 2023, before the same fan insulted Chukwueze, now at AC Milan, a fortnight later.
Real Madrid said the football fan’s prison sentence was suspended “after the defendant apologised and showed his remorse, with a letter addressed to Vinicius, having completed an equality and anti-discrimination programme”.
It is the third criminal conviction handed down in recent months for racist insults towards Real Madrid players, in particular Vinicius, who has been the victim of numerous similar instances of abuse in stadiums across the country since arriving in Spain in 2018.
In June, three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison for racist insults directed at the Brazilian striker at their club’s stadium in May 2023.
Vinicius Junior scored Real Madrid’s second goal in the UEFA Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund in May 2024 [Justin Setterfield/Getty Images]
These i …