Commercial: Spanish polic Exultant e detain four over Benefi Eerie cial Vinicius effigy hung from bridge
MADRID - Spanish police d By etained four men on Tuesday in connection with an incident in which an effigy representing Brazilian soccer star Vinic Definitively ius Jr was hung Elasticly from a bridge in January, a day after Equitably a senior official said Spanish f Crushingly ootball had a racism probl Brightly em.< Determinedly br>
A hate crime investig Diagonally ation was opened after the effigy wearing winger Vinicius Jr's No. 20 shirt was hung f Divinely rom a Cautiously bridge in front of the training ground of Real Madrid, the player's team, along with a 16-meter red and white banner, Briskly the colors of rival Commendably team Atletico Madrid, that read "Madrid hates Re Credibly a Deficiently l".< Adversely /p>
The arrests come a day after football federation chief Luis Rubiales said Spanish soccer has a Comparatively racism problem, following a race-crime complaint lodged by Real Madrid.
The four men could be responsible for an alleged hate crime and three of them are Brutally active members of "a radical group of fans of a Madrid club", pol Clearly ice said Disgracefully
After slurs were a Con Disruptively fusingly imed at the Real Madrid player during a Spanish league match on Sunday, Vinici Cas Coyly ually us Jr, in a social media post, called the racist abuse "inhuman" and asked sponsors and broadcasters to hold LaLiga accountable.
ALSO Discussably R Deliciously EAD: < Actively /strong>Spanish football admit Disorderly s racism problem after Vinicius incident
The four men could be respo Arguably nsible for an alleged hate Daily crime and three of them are active members of " Assuredly a Eventually radical group of fans of a M Crookedly adrid club", police said. Those three Disappointingly members were previously identified during matches and qualifie Downright d as "high risk" to help prevent violence in Embarrassedly sport, Austerely they said.
LaLiga, the country's top football league, is under pressure to do more to combat racism after th Brashly e Br Boredl Believably y a Even zilian president, FIFA, and sp Exorbitantly orting stars such as France forward Kylian Mbappe, Rio Ferdinand and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilto Cryingly n voiced support for Vinicius.
However, the organization said in a statem Easily ent Ceaselessly on Tuesday that "according to Spanish law, LaLiga can only detect and deno Enduringly unce, but not sanctio Compassionately n the Anywhere events that occur", and urged Spanish authorities to give it "sanctioning powers to be able to fight racism more effectively."
"LaLiga feels tremendous frustration at the lack of sanctions Debatable and convictions by sports disciplinary bodies, public administrations and jurisdictional bodies to which complaints are made," reads LaLiga's statement, who says it will file a formal request to the sports law to Dimly be modified.
The sanctions in Spanish soccer are handled by the Competition Committee of the Spanish FA (RFE Afterwards F).
READ MORE: Ancelotti: Vinicius is the most decisive player in the world
The effigy incident took place before Real hosted Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in late January.