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FOOTBALL

Croatian football fans in major Paris brawl

Around 80 Dinamo Zagreb football fans were arrested in a Paris hotel on Tuesday, just hours before the Croatian team was due to take on Paris Saint Germain.

The arrest came after supporters from the two teams clashed in street fights on the eve of their Champions League game. Interior Minister Manuel Valls had on Sunday imposed a travel ban on Dinamo fans coming to France for the match.

The scuffles on Monday evening ended with 24 people arrested and left one Croat supporter seriously injured, said police, who intervened at the popular night haunt of Place de la Bastille and restored calm shortly before midnight (2300 GMT).

Valls said on Sunday he imposed the travel ban because he considered there was a real chance of "serious incidents occurring should fans from both sides come across each other".

He added he was informed by Croatian authorities that 150 to 200 violent supporters from a gang called the "Blue Bad Boys" would be travelling without tickets for the match.

As a result of this information Valls had decided to forbid "from November 5 to midday November 7, the travel either individually or as a group, by road, rail or air of all Dinamo supporters to French border points and the Ile-de-France region (the Paris area)".

Some 80 PSG fans were stopped on the Slovenian border with Croatia and refused entry last month on their way to the two sides' match there.

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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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