“Real Madrid Dedicates Win and Goal to Teammate Victimized by Racism”

Before the game, the Real players wore jerseys with the name and number 20 of their teammate Vinício Junior, who was the target of racist insults several times this season in Sunday’s game in Valencia. The fans also showed their support for their star, who watched the match only from the box of honor alongside club president Florentino Pérez due to knee problems. Symbolically, in the 20th minute, they stood up, clapped and chanted Vinício’s name.

Eleven minutes later, captain Karim Benzema opened the scoring, bypassing the goalkeeper and finishing into an open goal. In the 84th minute, Raúl de Tomás equalized, but a minute before the end of regular time, Rodrygo made the decision with a penalty kick. After scoring the goal, the Brazilian clenched his hand into a fist in a gesture symbolizing the fight against racism and thus dedicated the winning goal to his compatriot Vinício. Real succeeded after a crushing 0-4 defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final second leg and a subsequent 0-1 loss at Valencia.

Atlético had a great run of form at Espanyol and when Yannick Carrasco made it 3-0 shortly after the start of the second half, the Madrid side looked set to win and retain second place. However, thanks to three goals between the 64th and 79th minutes, the desperately struggling home team equalized and gained at least a point in the duel with the favourites. However, they are second to last in the table with a three-point loss to the trio of teams in front of them.

Villarreal kept their theoretical hope of advancing to the Champions League thanks to a 2-0 victory over Cádiz. Nicolas Jackson scored both goals in the first half, former Spanish international Pepe Reina kept a clean sheet in his 1,000th professional game. Fifth-placed Villarreal is five points behind fourth-placed San Sebastian.