Anil Murthy: “Valencia CF will support our player and the fight against racism to the end”

Valencia CF continue to express the club’s strongest disapproval of racism in football and society, in reaction to the incident that occurred at the Ramón de Carranza on Sunday evening. Club president Anil Murthy underlined the commitment that should be made to investigating the incident and eliminating racism, in a statement to VCF Media on Monday.

Full support to Diakhaby

 am here with Mouctar Diakhaby, who has been very hurt by the situation that occurred yesterday and does not wish to speak at this time,” said Mr. Murthy, who had gathered with the team and coaching staff in the morning to make a stand against racism.

“Yesterday, in our game against Cadiz, we witnessed a flagrant incident of racism. There is no other way to describe it. Our player, Mouctar Diakhaby, was the recipient of an extremely serious racial insult by Juan Cala.

Although Cala may deny it, we are all able to recognise a look of guilt, and we believe Mouctar completely. This type of behaviour should not be tolerated in football and in society in general, and we at Valencia CF condemn racism in any form. We fully support our player.”

Valencia CF will go all the way

“There should be no doubt that Valencia CF will defend Mouctar Diakhaby to the fullest, and fight to ensure that such lamentable events are not repeated.”

LaLiga's inquiry

The Valencia CF president has already talked with the Spanish league about the matter, and has called for a full investigation to be made.

“We spoke with LaLiga this morning to encourage them to also see their investigation through to the end. This incident cannot be left behind, and cannot be repeated with any other player for any other team.

“We are saddened that, following the incident, there was no reaction to stop the game, and that it was our players who were the ones to leave the field of play. There cannot be a lack of action in light of these types of situations.

“From now on, we would like to see some kind of reaction to change these protocols, in order to protect those who are vulnerable. If we don’t change this, then it will give a bad example to everybody.”

Proud of the team's reaction

“We are proud of the reaction from our team, and we still do not understand why Diakhaby, the recipient of this racial insult, received a yellow card. We also do not understand why the players had to return to the pitch due to the regulations not protecting the victims and the team in such cases.

This must change. Changes have been made in other leagues, and now the same must be done in Spain. We cannot turn a blind eye to something as serious as racism. It is time for a change, and Valencia CF will go all the way in our support of our player and the fight against racism. A step back in the fight against racism was taken yesterday.”