At a glance
- Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has warned that their team will leave the field the next time Vinicius Jr. is racially abused.
- This has happened across Spain, and at stadiums such as Valencia’s Mestalla.
- Tchouameni also shed light on going from zero to hero in the Bernabeu.
Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has warned that he and his teammates will leave the pitch the next time Vinicius Jr. is racially abused.
This has unfortunately occurred at grounds around Spain including Valencia’s Mestalla. In the Champions League this term, however, Benfica forward Gianluca Prestianni allegedly aimed a racial slur at the Brazilian.
“They called him a monkey,” Tchouameni told The Pivot podcast, in quotes carried by MARCA.
“I feel like the next step will be to stop playing. We are not going to allow those scenes to happen again.”
Tchouameni shed light on his difficult time at Real Madrid
Tchouameni is now considered an essential part of the Los Blancos midfield whose suspended absence was felt during the midweek Champions League quarterfinal loss to Bayern Munich.
But it wasn’t always like that. Last term, the Frenchman was jeered at the Bernabeu and he recalled this troubling era.
“I was made a scapegoat. In the first 10-20 minutes the stadium whistled every time I touched the ball. That situation either destroys you, or you think ‘that’s the way it is’.
“Let’s see what I can control, and the only thing I can control is my performance. The level of pressure at Real Madrid is somewhat different. People are going to talk about everything you do, whether it’s good or bad.”
“Everyone was talking about me, about the way I play. One, two years ago I was a bad player, I got booed in the stadium, so I felt like I’d been through a lot, and it definitely helped me mentally,” Tchouameni went on.
“Now I know that no matter what I do, people are going to talk, so I just don’t pay attention to it. Playing for Real Madrid is the biggest stage in sport: pressure is a privilege,” he concluded.
Tchouameni is clever in his remarks
Tchouameni did well to correct himself so that he doesn’t come under fire and his words aren’t twisted. And the next time Vinicius suffers racial abuse, though hopefully this doesn’t come to light, Madrid should take the next step and leave the pitch. That’s the only way that some people will learn, with Vinicius’ anti-racism campaigns already having success in Spain.
