Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, has apologized for his response to Vinicius, which many people interpreted as an attack on a racial victim, thesportsbay.com reports.
It will be recalled that Tebas had defended the league, and criticise Vinicius’ statement on the Spanish top flight’s stance against racism.
The Brazilian international was racially abused during Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss to Valencia, and after the game, he accused Spanish football on Twitter of being racist.
The LaLiga president cited the tweet, asserted that the league was not racist, and claimed that the Real Madrid player had ignored invitations from the organization to discuss their anti-racism initiatives.
Following the tweet, the administrator was charged with being impolite and insulting the athlete.’
Tebas, in an interview with ESPN Brazil, assured that it was not his intent; however, he apologised for the perception of the tweet. He explained that he was only trying to clarify the situation.
“Here is an issue that I always say to my (communication) team: when many people understand the message in a way, they are right. So, I have to repent”, he said.
“I think that the message, and the intention I had, an important part (of people), especially in Brazil, did not understand. I did not want to attack Vinicius, but if most people understood it that way, I need to apologize.
“It was not my intention I expressed myself badly, at a bad time… But I had no intention of attacking Vinicius, but rather clarifying a situation, because Vinicius had recorded a video criticising LaLiga’s actions.”
