The athlete is neither the first nor the last person to experience racism in Spanish football, but his words have sparked a critical conversation among the populace about structural racism.
Star Brazilian footballer VinÃcius Junior recently broke down during a press conference ahead of a match with Real Madrid, saying he feels "less motivated" to play the sport amid repeated racist chants against him at games.
The 23-year-old athlete's call on football's governing bodies to "do more" has revived, almost a year later, a conversation about the racism he continues to encounter on and off the pitch. The problem goes beyond football and directly to the racism problem engrained within Spain itself.
Last year, when Vinicius called out Valencia CF fans for slinging monkey sounds and racist insults, the phones of race analysts and anti-racist organisations in Spain didn’t stop ringing for weeks. I was among the one fielding calls, attending to media questions nonstop.
I remember that nearly every interview started with the same question: Is Spain a racist country? I always answered the same way: yes.
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