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LaLiga will request greater jurisdiction to punish clubs whose fans are guilty of racist abuse after feeling “powerless” at the lack of current sanctions in the wake of the latest Vinicius Junior incident. The Spanish league is engulfed in a racism scandal after Real Madrid forward Vinicius was allegedly subjected to racist chants during Sunday’s game at Valencia and later claimed it was an example of “continuous episodes spread across several cities in Spain”. LaLiga, according to the country’s law, can currently only identify and report incidents, and punishment is rarely handed out. Now it wants legislation changing so that it has the power to impose punishment such as forcing games to be played behind closed doors or financial penalties. It said in a statement: “LaLiga will request more sanctioning powers, with the aim of being more agile and effective in the fight against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport, where LaLiga has been leading the identification and reporting of such behaviour in football stadiums for years, but feels powerless when observing how its reporting ends. “Despite its intense and continuous fight against violence and racism to the full extent of its powers (currently, according to Spanish legislation, limited to identifying and reporting the facts that occur), LaLiga feels tremendous frustration at the lack of sanctions and convictions by the sports disciplinary bodies, public administrations and jurisdictional bodies to which it reports. “Faced with this serious situation, in the coming days LaLiga will formally request the amendment of Law 19/2007 of July 11, against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport and Law 39/2022 of December 30, on sport. “The purpose of the proposal is to request that LaLiga may exercise disciplinary authority over incidents of this type which occur in matches of the professional competition, so that the disciplinary bodies of LaLiga may proceed to sanction them, among other things, with the total or partial closure of the sports venue, the prohibition of access to it in the case of members/fans and the imposition of financial penalties, without prejudice to the adoption of provisional or precautionary measures that may be appropriate, depending on the nature and seriousness of the incidents. “As we have been repeating in recent days, LaLiga has been leading the fight against violence, racism and intolerance on football pitches, both inside and outside the stadium, identifying such behaviour through its match directors, security officers and television cameras, and subsequently reporting it to the relevant bodies.” It comes on the day four people have been arrested in Spain under suspicion of hanging an effigy of Vinicius off a bridge in January. An inflatable doll dressed in a Vinicius shirt was hung from the railings with a banner that read ‘Madrid hates Real Madrid’ ahead of Real’s Copa del Rey game with city rivals Atletico at the start of the year. And Spanish police confirmed on Tuesday that four suspects had been apprehended. They tweeted: “Arrested in #Madrid 4 people who allegedly hung a mannequin with the #Vinicius shirt on a bridge near the Ciudad Deportiva del @realmadrid.” The arrests follow the latest racism scandal that has engulfed Spanish football, with Vinicius targeted by racist chants during Sunday’s LaLiga game with Valencia. The Brazil international threatened to leave the pitch in the second half after being subjected to alleged monkey chants at the Mestalla. Real Madrid said the abuse constituted a “hate crime” and filed a complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office. Valencia confirmed police had identified a fan who made racist gestures at Vinicius and that individual faces a lifetime stadium ban. Vinicius tweeted on Monday night: “Every round away from home is an unpleasant surprise. And there were many this season. Death wishes, hanged doll, many criminal screams… All registered. “But the speech always falls on ‘isolated cases’, ‘a fan’. No, these are not isolated cases. They are continuous episodes spread across several cities in Spain (and even in a television programme). “The evidence is there in the video. Now I ask: how many of these racists had names and photos exposed on websites? I answer to make it easier: zero. None to tell a sad story or make those fake public apologies. “What is missing to criminalise these people? And punish clubs sportingly? Why don’t sponsors charge LaLiga? Don’t televisions bother to broadcast this barbarity every weekend? “The problem is very serious and communications no longer work. Not blaming me to justify criminal acts either. You are not football, you are inhuman.”

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Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Brentford set up a mouthwatering top-of-the-table clash against Manchester City, but manager Jurgen Klopp is less than impressed with the lunchtime scheduling. The Premier League’s resumption after the international break kicks off with City v Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium live on television in a Saturday lunchtime clash. Klopp has been a long-time opponent of broadcast scheduling, particularly the 12.30pm slot, and he has aired his complaints again. “OK, no-one can say at the moment, but how can you put a game like this on Saturday at 12.30pm?” he said. “Is it the moment where the world pays the most to see a football game? I don’t know if that is the case, I really don’t. “Honestly, the people making the decisions, they cannot feel football, it is just not possible.” The logistics involved in getting players back from South America are well-drilled now and usually involve clubs liaising to charter a jet for all their players to return home together. But a lunchtime kick-off requires extra planning to get them back as early as practically possible, which often involves extra work to get them into one airport at the same time. “You have these two teams who have, all together, about 30 international players. They all come back on the same plane from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia,” said Klopp. “One game, one plane, they all come back.” Liverpool endured a couple of tricky moments at home to Brentford, but two goals from Mohamed Salah, taking him to 200 in English football, and one from Diogo Jota ensured Klopp’s side leapfrogged Arsenal into second place on goal difference. In becoming the first Reds player to score in each of their first six home matches at the start of a season, Salah joined Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry in having scored or assisted in 15 consecutive Premier League home games. “Exceptional, just exceptional player. Played a super game today and we all know how difficult it is against these tall centre-backs,” added Klopp. “Two players around him, all these kinds of things, how often he kept the ball for us and we could play from there. That was super important and scoring two goals. “We had so many good moments in the first half. We scored (through Darwin Nunez), but it was offside (twice), things like that, and then in that moment, the composure for the first goal is insane. “There is no doubt when the ball is in that area in the end you see it on the scoresheet. So a pretty special player.” Victory ensured the team headed off on international duty with a spring in their step after a difficult week which began with a draw at Luton and got worse with defeat in the Europa League to Toulouse. But in extending their 100 percent home league record to six matches this season, having conceded just twice at Anfield in that time, Liverpool moved into pole position as City’s nearest challengers. “Football is strange. If you would have asked me three days just about the feeling, not about what I know, I am not sure I would talk about the start (to their season),” said Klopp. “But obviously you look at the game, the numbers, the results, most of the time it was OK or better. “A point at Luton didn’t feel great, Tottenham, in the circumstances (a defeat after a controversial incorrect VAR decision) obviously didn’t feel great. “It’s absolutely all right if we just don’t really think about it. Today it was about getting through the game and we did. The boys responded sensationally well.” Brentford head coach Thomas Frank was unhappy with a second-half challenge by Wataru Endo on Christian Norgaard which, on the basis of what has gone before this season, he felt VAR got wrong. “I think this situation, back in the day, never would have been a red card, but in the football we are playing now, with the slow image you can see a clear foot on the leg, four bloody marks on Christian’s leg,” he said. “There is definitely some contact with force.” Read More Unai Emery demands consistency from Aston Villa after victory over Fulham I don’t like English referees – Roberto De Zerbi unhappy after Brighton held We’ve just thrown it away – Steve Cooper frustrated as Forest lose at West Ham Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart lead Britain to Billie Jean King Cup win over Sweden Brighton gift draw to Sheffield United after own goal and red card Aston Villa equal club-record home winning run by sweeping aside Fulham

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