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Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal speaks out against Islamophobic chants during Spain\u2019s match with Egypt.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 3 Apr 2026<\/span>3 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa says Spain is a tolerant country and not racist despite Islamophobic chanting during a national team match this week.<\/p>\n Sections of the crowd at Spain\u2019s friendly against Egypt on Tuesday sang, \u201cWhoever doesn\u2019t jump is Muslim,\u201d at Espanyol\u2019s RCDE Stadium in Cornella.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Spain and Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal, who is Muslim, criticised those chanting as \u201cignorant and racist\u201d.<\/p>\n Arbeloa defended Spain on Friday while insisting racist attitudes should be eliminated.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Spain is not a racist country. If it was, we would have a problem every weekend at all of the stadiums,\u201d the Spaniard told reporters.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep thinking we have to eradicate any racist attitude at stadiums and in society. \u2026 Spain as a country has to keep fighting to get rid of these attitudes.<\/p>\n \u201c[However,] I think we\u2019re a great country, very tolerant, and with these kinds of situations, we shouldn\u2019t generalise.\u201d<\/p>\n Real Madrid striker Vinicius Jr has been racially abused at several stadiums across the country in high-profile incidents in recent years.<\/p>\n In January 2023, Atletico Madrid fans hung an effigy of the Brazilian forward from a bridge near Real Madrid\u2019s training ground.<\/p>\n Four months later, Vinicius squared off with fans abusing him at Valencia\u2019s Mestalla stadium in an incident that gained him worldwide support in his battle against racism.<\/p>\n In 2025, five Real Valladolid fans who racially abused Vinicius in a 2022 match, were found guilty of committing a hate crime \u2013 the first such ruling in Spain regarding insults at a football stadium.<\/p>\n Barcelona coach Hansi Flick praised teenager Yamal for making a \u201cgreat statement\u201d by condemning those responsible for the abuse.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stand for inclusion. \u2026 It\u2019s frustrating that a small number of idiots don\u2019t understand this,\u201d Flick said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all want to be respected. It doesn\u2019t matter about your colour, your religion, your region. It\u2019s time to change these thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n Atletico coach Diego Simeone said the problem was related to a lack of respect in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a social problem on a world level, not about Spain or Argentina or Brazil or anywhere,\u201d the coach said.<\/p>\n \u201cRespect that was lost many years ago \u2013 respect for parents, schoolteachers, police, club directors, coaches, presidents \u2013 \u2026 today it\u2019s been lost. and we don\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/p>\n Catalonia\u2019s regional police said they were investigating the chants, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the incident \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot allow an uncivil minority to tarnish the reality of Spain, a diverse and tolerant country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal speaks out against Islamophobic chants during Spain\u2019s match with Egypt. Published On 3 Apr 20263 Apr 2026 Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa says Spain is a tolerant country and not racist despite Islamophobic chanting during a national team match this week. Sections of the crowd at Spain\u2019s friendly against Egypt on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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