Valencia have asked Netflix to correct a part of its documentary film on Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior which the Spanish club say “does not correspond with reality”.
The ‘Baila, Vini’ (dance, Vinicius) documentary aired on May 15 and while it focuses on the Brazil international’s calendar year in 2024, it draws on a match from May 21, 2023, when Madrid played at Valencia.
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As part of the footage from that match, the documentary shows a video that was uploaded to TikTok of Valencia fans chanting at Vinicius Jr, with the transcription as ‘mono’ (monkey) rather than ‘tonto’ (fool) — which Valencia contest is a “falsehood” and say the “reserve the right to take legal action” should it not be amended.
In the 73rd minute of the game, Vinicius Jr confronted a group of Valencia fans in a stand behind one of the goals and called the attention of match referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea, who stopped the game to follow La Liga’s racist abuse protocol. An announcement was subsequently made inside the stadium that if racist chanting continued, the game would be abandoned.
Vinicius Jr was visibly distressed and continued to receive jeers from the stands, especially after he was red-carded following a tussle with Valencia’s Hugo Duro during stoppage time.
After that match, Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti said that “the whole stadium” had racially abused his player, but Valencia said this was a mix-up between the Spanish words ‘mono’ and ‘tonto’, and, a few days later, the Italian accepted this.
A report from the Spanish Football Federation into the incident detailed several other racist insults that were directed at Vinicius Jr, without quantifying how many individuals were involved, or what part of the stadium it came from. It also noted that “hundreds of fans” had abused him outside the ground before kick-off.
The RFEF committee fined Valencia €45,000 (£38,000; $49,000). This was the highest financial penalty imposed on a Spanish football club following racist abuse at a ground. They were also ordered to play five matches with their Mario Kempes stand closed — reduced to three after an appeal.
A Madrid court subsequently charged three Valencia supporters over the abuse Vinicius Jr faced at the Mestalla. Valencia had already helped identify them and banned them from the ground.
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In June 2024, three people were sentenced to eight months in prison after being found guilty of racially abusing Vinicius Jr in that May 2023 match at Valencia. That was the first conviction for racist insults in a football stadium in Spain.
Netflix says of the documentary: “The film revisits the events of 2024, when the Brazilian star battled injuries and rose as a powerful voice against racism in stadiums.”
🦇 Ante la injusticia y falsedades cometidas con la afición del Valencia CF, desde el Club hemos exigido por escrito una rectificación inmediata a la productora del documental por lo ocurrido en Mestalla y que no se corresponde con la realidad. La verdad y el respeto a nuestra… https://t.co/3Xy66YnL3b
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf) May 19, 2025
The Valencia statement read: “As a response to injustice and falsehoods made towards the Valencia CF fanbase, the club have made a demand in writing to the producers of the documentary regarding their portrayal of what occurred at Mestalla, which does not correspond with reality.
“Truth and respect for our fans must prevail. Valencia CF reserve the right to take legal action corresponding to the situation. #RESPECT”
The Athletic has contacted the producers of the documentary, Conspiracao, for comment.
Over the weekend, Valencia head coach Carlos Corberan, who was appointed in December 2024, said he had not seen the documentary but is “aware of what happened” and reiterated that Valencia base was respectful.
“This is a demanding fanbase, it’s one of the best fanbases in Spain and they make it so that experiencing each match at Mestalla is special for Valencia and for any rival,” Corberan said.
“Because I’ve experienced matches at Mestalla while not being a manager, or not being part of Valencia and I know what it means, I know how intimidating it is to play at Mestalla for the size of the stadium and the atmosphere the fans generate.
“But I also have very clear that nobody needs to tell me how respectful Valencia’s fans are.”
Valencia striker Duro, who played in the May 2023 match and was involved in Vinicius’s red card, was also asked about the documentary over the weekend and said that he had not seen it, but that it was clear what his club’s fans had chanted.
“Anybody who’s gone to Mestalla, anybody who’s seen the video, you can see ‘Tonto’ is said,” Duro said.
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“I don’t know why we want to subtitle it with something that wasn’t said.
“Three idiots — I think it was three, I don’t remember anymore, however many there were — were punished in the way they deserved and not for that does the rest deserve to be tarnished as a racist fanbase when it’s a lie and there’s lots of videos that show it.”
Additional report by Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero
(Top image: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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