Vinícius Junior couldn't control his tears on Monday while talking about the racism he has faced in his career.
The 23-year-old is currently with the Brazil National Football Team where they play Spain on March 27 at Santiago Bernabeu.
While talking to reporters, the Real Madrid forward talked about the racist chants he faces in Spain and stressed that playing football is important but the fight against racism holds more value.
"Verbal racism happens not only in Spain but also throughout the world.
“I want to thank all Spanish players who are always supporting me. Not only in Spain, there is a lot of racism everywhere. More and more people have shown me their support. I hope that in the future this will be less and there are fewer people who go through this.
"I want to thank everyone who supports us in this fight against Racism. The players in Spain help me a lot. UEFA and FIFA could do more," he added.
Vinicius opined that the lack of punishment frustrates him the most and he has thought about quitting football too.
"All those people leave without anything happening to them after what they do. "I've been watching this (racism) happen for a long time, and I feel sadder and sadder, I'm less and less willing to play. No one is supporting me
“Many people of colour have a normal life. If this was the case, I would go to my club's games focused only on playing. The only thing I want is to keep playing and that everyone has a normal life.”
He urged FIFA, UEFA and other big organisations to play a role in eliminating racism.
"With every complaint, I feel worse, but I have to show up here and show my face. I have asked for help from UEFA, FIFA, Conmebol, CBF... who are large organizations and can fight against that.
The Spain-Brazil game is set to take place just days after a new wave of racist and hate insults targeted Vinicius in matches in Spain.
On the same night on March 2 when Vinícius gave the Black Power salute at Mestalla, Brazilian media reports said a child in the stadium had called the player a monkey. The Spanish league was looking into a video of the incident, though it wasn’t clear from the images published online if Vinicius was targeted.
A couple of weeks ago, there were reports of racist chants targeting Vinicius outside the stadiums of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona before Champions League games that didn’t even involve Real Madrid.
Vinicius retweeted a video that showed a few Atletico fans jumping and chanting “Vinicius chimpanzee,” and a day earlier some Barcelona fans allegedly chanted “Die, Vinicius.”
“I hope you have already thought about their punishment,” Vinicius said at the time on X, formerly Twitter, and tagged the Champions League and European soccer governing body UEFA. “It’s a sad reality that happens even in games where I’m not present."
