OTF

And his contract is up also. There's a chance he stays on in some sort of ancillary coaching role, randomly yelling out names in stadium hallways pre and post match and generally screaming enthusiastically during training.

Dress him up in Howe's normal match day attire and he'd get away with it on the long shots. Of course it would be a dead giveaway when he runs onto the pitch after we score and starts vigorously slapping the heads of our players.

Your cheese doesn't need boards when it comes in individual plastic wrappers.

Almost exactly like that, except real. Though I suspect many may not know it until they play us.

Yes, fair call, I applaud you, your english is very very good for someone with a different primary language. I do want to understand you. Despite some Spanish heritage I speak none. I recall being in Madrid in 2010 during the period the World cup was on - actually I flew straight from South Africa to Madrid with a bunch of loud and annoying Brazilian supporters who were having too good a time on an overnight flight. Anyway, I was wearing a Spain jersey and had more than one person approach me and ask me something in Spanish. I had to reply with just about the only thing I could say "no hablo".

You've missed the point and you're still acting as though the many instances have all been fabrications despite 7 people being charged (4 for the doll and 3 from the Valencia game), various statements from the clubs involved, from the federation and from the referees. You wrote very passionately and at length about how you consider Vinicius to be the most unsportsmanlike player you've ever seen. I really can't see what relationship this has to his race and the confirmed racism that has been directed at him. I was wrong about your hatred for Real Madrid, should I call it dislike or indifference? Whatever it is, and whether or not it contributes to your opinion on the continuing racism in Spanish football doesn't really matter. The racism has been in stadiums from Spanish footballing fans, I just assumed you would have seen it, but now understand that you may have missed parts of it through not watching a lot of la liga. If you wish to know of more unsporting players than Vinicius I can name a few for you; Suarez, Gattuso, Rivaldo, Roy Keane, Pepe (I know you mentioned him, but this for me cannot be disputed), Nigel de Jong and Paul Scholes. You could easily include Joey Barton amongst them, and even though he's not a footballer of note except for his dirty tackles; Kevin Muscat.

The only way to stop it is to take hard action against it and show that it will not be tolerated. Stopping the game and removing the individuals would have been a clear and visible sign to all that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated. As it was they didn't do that and what followed was farcical. An obviously riled up Vinicius gets involved in a verbal altercation, the Valencia GK comes aggressively sprinting over, escalating the situation, then Vinicius has another Valencia player grab him in a headlock from behind and when he eventually breaks free he swipes at that same player (Duro) who had not been on the pitch long. Duro did not even get a yellow for his involvement in the play. The keeper who charged in (Mamardashvili) did get a yellow.

@Diego21 Firstly, yes we can both agree that racism is not justifiable at any time, however I would extend beyond this and say that true racism is deplorable and should bring with it punishment. The way I've read it, you're effectively reducing racism down by excusing it to minority groups and ultras. There's a point where reduction of it, or allowance and tolerance of it in any way shape or form allows those who are the victims of it to continue to suffer without protection or the feeling of support. And then next thing you're blaming Vinicius and Real Madrid, suggesting that they're supporting a false narrative about Vinicius' racial vilification. Yet in your next sentence you're confirming that yes 3-40 (weird numbers) supporters did say racist things to him. Of course it's not the whole stadium of 45,000 people, that's such a pointless thing to say in defence of racist abuse being levelled against a player. What are you suggesting the motive of Vinicius is when you say that he is 'fueling a controversy based on lies' - what is the lie? That 45,000 people and not 40 were racially abusing him? You have answered your own question here, because as you saw they have now changed the perpetrators of this hate crime. Is this also a false narrative? His aggression (an open handed arm hand swipe to the side of the face) was reciprocated against a player who held him in a headlock with his arm against his neck immediately prior. The red card of Vinicius has been overturned. Valencia have confirmed that racist chants were levied against Vinicius. Valencia's sponsors have spoken out against it. I suppose this is just more false narrative? The referee was not expelled for life to my understanding - in fact the referee who decided to expel Vinicius was not punished at all. It was the VAR who has been stood down (likely permanently), as it was the VAR who determined what footage to show the referee. The referee did not see what had happened prior to the swipe from Vinicius, which is why he reached the wrong decision. Koke warned that Vini should expect trouble if he celebrated a goal by dancing against Atletico. Sure, there may be nothing racist in what Koke said, but the chants that occurred at the game were racist and won't have been helped by the comments from him. The racist fans would have seen this as the trouble that Koke referred to. So, hang on a moment, the false narrative is all to promote Vinicius' dance (this is the first I have heard of him having a special dance BTW) and now not just Vini and Real Madrid are in on it, but also Valencia, he three fans from Valancia who have been arrested, their sponsors, the Spanish Football Federation and the referees committee? Plus presumably the 4 charged with hanging the Vinicius effigy? How deep does this conspiracy run? It's obviously not just racism because Spain is not a racist country. I'm sure they share that sentiment in Brazil. Finally, I'm not accusing you of being racist, definitely not, but it seems to me you have lost sight of the forest for all the trees; your hatred for Real Madrid and the sportsmanship of their players is blinding you from a problem that quite clearly exists and needs to be handled in a clear and direct way, not through reducing countless incidents down to the acts of a few.

@Diego21 I have to ask what you think about the Ateltico fans treatment of Vinicius Jr? The chanting, the doll from the bridge, and what happened in the courts afterwards. And what about the weekend game RM against Valencia and the racial abuse outside and inside the stadium. Easy to see why Vini is looking at leaving La Liga. The ref and VAR from that game were all stood down and then the La Liga chief attacks Vini, saying he's to blame and that there's no racism.... Not a good look for the La Liga. And finally what say you to allegations that Atletico basically own the Madrid press?

Even better, he paid the full respect it deserved by completely ignoring it.

Owen telling Bruno he played for the club, the desperate sycophantic fat headed bore.

Credit to Schär for being switched on to clear after Pope's save as well.

Also, if Pope doesn't save that it would have been the perfect plan.

Job done. Fantastic unbelievable season.

Pope, fantastic.

What is happening

Schär is getting impatient, preparing to ready a thundercunt.

After a stale patch that was lovely.

You'd hate to be Longstaff's boot sponsor.

xP(ost)

That was so close

Would have liked Trippier to have taken a shot there.

Was that proved?

That was a foul against Almiron

I thought the same, but showed some respect.