Courtesy: La Liga/Google
La Liga’s Sunday contest between Espnayol and Athletic Bilbao at the RCDE Stadium was stopped after the latter’s forward Inaki Williams went to the referee and complained against the former’s fans for abusing his teammate Maroan Sannadi during the first-half. Receiving the complaint, the referee reacted quickly and applied La Liga’s anti-racism protocol, which suspended the game. A message was also displayed at the stadium for spectators which warned them the match will be abandoned if they continue resorting to such antics. Following the scene, the play continued with both sides ending the match at a stalemate with the figures of 1-1.
Following the match, Williams spoke on the matter and said, "People should come to football to support [their team]. I think that Espanyol and the Espanyol players need their fans and should not let few people tarnish what is true football."
Both clubs also looked relentless against the act as they posted condemnation on social media. Bilbao stood with its stalwart and posted, "United against racism, zero tolerance for any discriminatory attitude." Bilbao Manager Ernesto Valverde also called the incident unfortunate, saying, "It's a situation that unfortunately happens in more places. We don't like it to happen at any stadium. It's a question of general manners and it's something that we have to work on."
Spanish football working on preventing racist incidents
Spanish football along with La Liga have worked on taking down racist incidents which have seen a significant rise in recent times. They also brought the guideline of partial stadium closures to tackle these kinds of serious matters sternly. In June 2024, three Valencia supporters were sent to imprisonment of eight months for abusing Real Madrid star Vincius Junior, who faced racial abuse during a game in May 2023.
In October 2024, Vinicius faced racial abuse online on social media which resulted in the punishment for four people for running the hate campaign against the 24-year-old Brazilian. The next month, a minor was fined and handed a one-year stadium ban for abusing Vincius.
