La Liga champions Barcelona lose to Valladolid, Rafinha shows support for Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior

Barcelona forward Rafinha took off his jersey and revealed his message of support for fellow Brazilian Vinicius Junior. The messages, which included anti-racism words in Portuguese and the phrase “We are together, Vinnie,” were visible on his undershirt and were visible when in the second half of Barcelona’s 3-1 defeat to Valladolid on Tuesday. Rafinha was substituted. He raised his right fist as he left the field.

It was the first matchday in the Spanish league since backing Vinicius Junior following the latest case of racial abuse against the Real Madrid star forward at the weekend. Vinicius, who is black, has been repeatedly subjected to racist taunts since arriving in Spain five years ago. Since the start of the Spanish league season in September, he has experienced racist abuse from fans of at least five rival teams, including Valencia on Sunday.

_ – Rafinha has been dropped and he doesn’t seem too happy about it. He takes off his shirt as he leaves the pitch, revealing a message in support of Vinicius Junior. pic.twitter.com/fos0nwfKpO

— ___ ____ _ (@TheEuropeanLad) May 23, 2023

This was Barcelona’s second consecutive defeat since winning the title, with the game ending after that. Barcelona and Valladolid players hold a banner with the words “racists out of football” before the match, one of the slogans of a campaign against racism launched jointly by the Spanish league, the Spanish federation and the government’s top sports authority is one of the

Anti-racist slogans were also shown during national and international broadcasts of the game. The win moved Valladolid three points clear of the relegation zone. The club owned by former Brazil striker Ronaldo could be safe going through to the last two rounds if Getafe fails to win at Real Betis on Wednesday.

Barcelona were losing 2-1 at home to Real Sociedad after securing their first Spanish league title since 2019 in the previous round. Valladolid, who had lost five matches in a row, took a 3–0 lead through an own goal from Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen and goals from Kyle Larrin and Gonzalo Plata. League’s leading scorer Robert Lewandowski scored a late goal for Barcelona.

Plata said, “Beating Barcelona has given us a lot of confidence to move forward. Now we have two finals left and hopefully we can reach our goal of staying in the first division.”

Real Sociedad closer to the Champions League

Real Sociedad strengthened its grip on the final Champions League spot with a 1-0 home win over 10-man Almería. Takefusa Kubo scored the winner in first-half stoppage time to give Sociedad their second straight win – and fourth in five games.

The win allowed Sociedad to open up an eight-point gap on fifth-place Villarreal, which hosts relegation-prone Cadiz on Wednesday. If Villarreal fails to beat Cadiz, Sociedad will secure a place in the Champions League. Sitting four points away from the relegation zone, Almeria have lost three of their last five matches. This saw Luis Suárez sent off with a straight red card in the 36th.