Madrid (AFP)
Real Madrid rose to second place, with a difficult 2-1 victory over its guest, Rayo Vallecano, in the evening of supporting its Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior, a victim of racist abuse who was absent from injury and present in the stands, in the “36th stage” of the Spanish Football League.
Real opened the scoring through Frenchman Karim Benzema (31), and just Rayo Vallecano thanks to Raul de Thomas (84), before Brazilian Rodrigo snatched the three-point goal for the Royal Club (89).
Real Madrid returned to second place with 74 points, one point ahead of archrivals Atletico Madrid, who fell to third place, after squandering a three-goal lead at Espanyol, to tie 3-3.
Atletico advanced through Saul Niguez (21), Frenchman Antoine Griezmann (44), and Belgian Yannick Carrasco, before Espanyol turned the tables on his guest by scoring three goals in the second half for Mexican Cesar Montes (64), Joselo (76 from a penalty kick), and Brazilian Vinicius. Souza “79”.
And Espanyol, the bottom runner-up, snatched a valuable point in its struggle for survival, raising its tally to 35 points two stages before the end.
And at his stadium, “Santiago Bernabeu”, Real confirmed its superiority, as it won its last 11 matches against Rayo Vallecano, who last won in the backyard of its rival in 1996, and Rayo Vallecano, who was fighting a month ago for a European seat, suffered his third loss in a row, after his fall. In front of Real Betis 1-3 and Espanyol 1-2.
Real players entered the field, wearing shirts bearing the name Vinicius and the number 20, while a banner was raised in the southern stand that read, “We are all Vinicius, that is enough,” with a shirt bearing the image of the Brazilian on the side.
Real and Vallecano players stood behind a banner reading “Racists, outside football”, as part of a joint campaign by the Federation and the Spanish League, following the racist abuse that the Brazilian was subjected to against Valencia in the last stage.
The Real Madrid players displayed the name and number of Vinicius’ shirt, amidst applause from the crowd, and Vinicius, who was seated next to club president Florentio Perez, applauded, clearly moved by the award given to him.
Vinicius may return to the matches with Real Madrid on Saturday, when Los Blancos visit Seville, who reached the final of the European League, “Europa League”.
And 20 minutes after the whistle, the fans cheered, “Vinnie, Vinny” and applauded him, and the Brazilian responded by saluting them.
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said, “Vinicius is doing well psychologically. All the support he has received in recent days has benefited him well. If he had not suffered from this discomfort in his knee, he would have played. We see how he feels to make him play against Sevilla, who reached European League final «Europa League».
He added, “A lot has happened in the past few days, and I believe that the community, not just the sports world, has realized something very important. It is a step forward, and I hope that the issue will be resolved quickly.”
Benzema broke his fast from scoring in his last four matches, to open the scoring after being dropped by the referee, and the ball reached Uruguayan Federico Valverde. He passed it in the back of the defense to the Frenchman, who bypassed goalkeeper Stoll Dimitrievsky from North Macedonia, and hit the ground with his left foot in the net «32», and lifted Benzema His score is 18 goals in second place, 5 goals behind Barcelona’s Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, leader of the ranking «23».
Vallecano equalized after his first shot, after De Thomas deceived inside the area Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (84), before Rodrigo snatched the winning goal, after taking advantage of Argentine substitute Oscar Trejo’s loss of the ball, penetrated into the area and hit against the goalkeeper (89), and celebrated. by raising his fist in the air in a gesture to his compatriot Vinicius.
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