THE sickening scenes on Sunday night filled me with outrage, as Vinicius Junior was subjected to racist chants, which were captured on social media in a way that no-one can deny during Real Madrid’s game against Valencia.

The gaslighting perpetuated by the media, the LaLiga president, Valencia and some of its supporters was not surprising, but it was infuriating nonetheless. Anyone trying to justify racism seriously needs to dig deep inside and ask themselves why.

Nothing Vinicius Jr has done on or off the pitch deserved such hateful and racist treatment. You can try to hide racism behind football tribalism but mark my words, it is racism nonetheless. In fact, let me clarify that there is never any need for racism as a response to anything.