The transcript of the exchange between the referee and Real Madrid players at Mestalla

The Spanish media have published the transcript of what was said between the referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea and Real Madrid players Eder Militao, Vinicius Junior and Carlo Ancelotti during the game against Valencia at Mestalla on Sunday where Vinicius was subjected to abhorrent racist abuse.

The game was stopped for several minutes after Vinicius pointed racist fans in the stands.

According to the transcript, which was obtained by El Golazo de Gol, this is what happened:

Vinicius: (To the referee) They are insulting me, they are insulting me.

Referee: What are they saying?

Vinicius: They are calling me monkey, monkey, monkey.

Referee: Who? Who?

Vinicius: Them, them. (Pointing at the fans)

Referee: Calm down, calm down.

Vinicius: They are calling me monkey, monkey, monkey.

Referee: Calm down, calm down.

Vinicius: They are calling me monkey, monkey, monkey.

Referee: Come, listen to me, listen to me, please. Okay? Listen to me. I ask you to continue. If there’s another one, we’ll go inside. Do you trust me? Okay.”

Vinicius: Yes, yes. But they are calling me monkey, monkey, monkey.

Referee: (to Carlo Ancelotti) I totally agree... I totally agree. But I have to notify the fans, once. If it happens again, we’ll get inside,”

Ancelotti: I’ve listened, and if they say ‘mono’ We have to stop the game.

Referee: (to Eder Militao) We warn of the racism protocol, I can’t do more.”

Militao: (puzzled) And now?

Referee: It’s like that, Éder, that the protocol is like that. It’s a shame, it’s a shame, listen to me, yes,

The game resumed after the referee spoke with both captains and warned them to calm their players down. However, in the final minutes of the game, another altercation broke out between the two teams after Vinicius defended himself from an attack from Hugo Duro. The referee then decided to send off Vinicius despite being choked by Duro, who went completely unpunished. Subsequently, the VAR referee has been fired for showing biased images which led to Vinicius’s red card.

The way that La Liga and the Spanish media have handled this has been quite disappointing. As our chief editor Kiyan Sobhani points out, the referee should’ve stopped the game when more racist chants happened later in the game.