Spanish league president apologizes after comments on Vinícius

SAO PAULO (AP) — Spanish soccer league president Javier Tebas apologized to Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior on Wednesday for his remarks attempting to play down a racist row involving the Brazilian forward on the weekend.

Tebas repeated in various interviews with Brazilian TV channels that he was sorry for his comments, saying they were “untimely” and “misunderstood.”

Immediately following Sunday's incident, Tebas was critical of Vinícius for attacking the Spanish league, and he claimed the Real Madrid star didn’t show up for talks on the subject of racism that he himself had requested.

Now the Spanish executive regrets his comments.

Vinícius faced racist taunts from fans at Valencia during Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss in the Spanish league on Sunday, and has complained of similar abuse in the past.

“I have to say I was wrong,” Tebas told TV Globo. “I have to apologize and ask for forgiveness for that tweet. We love Vinicius and we have appealed to courts, it has been a long while. We are onto this, we want to defend Vinicius and we will keep doing it.”

“If this tweet was misinterpreted, and it surely happened because a lot of people took it in a different way, I have to apologize. And nothing else,” Tebas added.

After Tebas' tweet on Sunday, Vinicius retorted.

“Instead of criticizing racists, the league president shows up on social media to attack me,” Vinícius said. “I’m not your friend to talk about racism with you. I want actions and punishment.”

The Brazilian player did not immediately respond to Tebas' apologies.

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