Jude Bellingham has hit out at La Liga for not doing enough to tackle racism in Spain after his Real Madrid teammate Aurelien Tchouameni became the latest target of abuse.
The Franco-Cameroonian midfielder was abused in Los Blancos’ 1-0 win at Mallorca at the weekend having scored the sole goal in the game.
It has brought further scrutiny on La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) handling of the malaise and Bellingham has called on the governing bodies to do more in tackling the matter, especially with fellow teammate Vinicius Jr. who has been subject to multiple abuse but has been criticised for his antics on the pitch.
“…I think that’s a massive problem in itself. You know, more has got to be done. Whether it’s the punishment and how you react to it or how you move proactively to this kind of thing. I think it’s a horrible way for a player to have to prepare for a game knowing that they’re probably going to get racially abused. It’s disgusting and shouldn’t happen. The people in power need to do more. You know, especially with Vinnie [Vinicius Jr.].
“And in the recent weeks and years, I actually I think the blame get shifted more on to him because of maybe his play style and the way he likes to express himself. And I don’t think that’s fair. You know, the game would miss players like Vinnie if he decided to kind of take a break because of this kind of thing. More needs to be done to support these kind of players.
“And it’s sad to hear because, you know, I get to know the lads really well personally. And, you know, no one deserves that kind of thing. So, yeah, it’s definitely a call out for the people who are in charge to take control. I doubt it will happen.
“And it’s going to be something that I imagine we will still have to just deal with going into games. But, yeah, it’s kind of one of those things where you’ve just got to play your game and hope that the people look after you and they’re not doing it well enough at the minute.”
🌟 @BellinghamJude 🌟#UCL pic.twitter.com/zHZNcJytM9
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) April 17, 2024
Bellingham is Real Madrid’s top scorer this season with 20 goals and nine assists in 34 competitive games.
