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FOOTBALL

Spain-Portugal football friendly to welcome 20,000 fans to the stands

Around 20,500 fans will be allowed to attend Spain's friendly against Portugal on June 4 with restrictions in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus, local officials said Tuesday.

Spain-Portugal football friendly to welcome 20,000 fans to the stands
Spain fans at a training session in 2018. Photo: Lluis Gené/AFP

Capacity at Atletico Madrid’s 68,000-seat Wanda Metropolitano stadium will be limited to around 30 percent and fans will have to wear face masks, the health department of the regional government of Madrid said in a statement.

Fans will not be allowed to smoke, eat or drink in the stands and will have different times set to enter the stadium to avoid crowds, it added.

The match will be one of the first major professional sports events to be held in the Spanish capital with a live audience since the start of the
pandemic.

Spain has been hit hard by Covid-19, recording nearly 80,000 deaths from around 3.6 million cases, and Madrid is the region with the most fatalities.

But infections and deaths have been declining as the country’s vaccination programme speeds up and the government has started to relax virus restrictions.

Earlier this month the government gave football clubs the green light for fans to return to matches for the final two rounds of fixtures this season in regions with low levels of infection.

The game will serve as a warm-up for the delayed Euro 2020, which gets underway on June 11th.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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