MADRID - Atletico Madrid supporters were filmed racially abusing Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior outside their Metropolitano Stadium ahead of the Madrid derby on Sunday.
Hundreds of Atletico fans could be heard singing "Vinicius, you are a monkey, you are monkey" in a video published on social media by radio station Cadena Cope in the build-up to the game that Real went on to win 2-1.
Local media also reported that monkey noises and chants of "Vinicius, die" were heard throughout the game.
Atletico president Enrique Cerezo told Mundo Deportivo before the match: "I'm going to ask Vinicius to teach me how to dance the samba... Players express themselves the way they want. The only thing is their expression has to show respect to the people around them when it is not their pitch."
Madrid-based daily Marca and Cadena Cope reported that La Liga are filing a written complaint with the Anti-Violence Commission, and suggested that financial penalties against Atletico were likely.
La Liga told the BBC via a spokesman: "We denounce all incidents inside and outside stadiums...
Hate speech has no place in La Liga, and we always work with the clubs and the authorities to identify and bring to justice any such case."
Pedro Bravo, the head of the Spanish Football Agents Association, was criticised last week for saying Vinicius needed to stop "monkeying around" when celebrating goals with his trademark dance moves, with a number of Brazilian footballers, including Pele, Neymar and Dani Alves, as well as the Brazilian Football Confederation denouncing the comments as racist.
Bravo said that the comment was not intended to be interpreted as racist, and instead was just a common turn of phrase used in Spanish.
Vinicius and Real, however, both released statements condemning the racist abuse the player has suffered during his career.
The 22-year-old star said: "I was the victim of xenophobia and racism... The happiness of a victorious black Brazilian in Europe bothers much more... These are dances to celebrate the cultural diversity of the world. Whether you accept it, respect it or lose your mind about it, I'm not going to stop."
Vinicius and scorer Rodrygo celebrated Real's opening goal by dancing in front of the Atletico fans as Real continued their perfect start to the season.
Vinicius posted a photo on Instagram with the caption "Dance where you want", while his international teammate Gabriel Jesus of Arsenal said earlier, after his goal celebration jig during the 3-0 English Premier League win at Brentford: "The celebration was for my guy Vinicius Junior, it needs to stop and it was for him." REUTERS
