Five-game partial stadium closure and €45k fine for Valencia following racist abuse

Valencia have been hit with a five-game partial stadium closure and a €45,000 fine following the racist abuse of Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior by fans.

Vinicius threatened to leave the pitch in the second half of Real Madrid's La Liga match against Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium on Sunday after being subjected to alleged monkey chants from the crowd and Real Madrid, who said the abuse constituted a "hate crime", filed a complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General's Office.

Valencia have 10 working days to file an appeal to the appeals committee.

La Liga players and officials called for racism to be tackled in Spain in the wake of Sunday's match.

Before Tuesday night's games between Real Valladolid and Barcelona, and Celta Vigo and Girona, players from both sides, as well as the match officials, stood behind banners which read "Racism, out of football".

LaLiga shared a pre-match clip from the Celta-Girona game on its official Twitter account with the hashtag #JUNTOSContraElRacismo (#TOGETHERagainstRacism).

The footage also showed a supporter holding up a placard with 'No Al Racismo' (No to Racism) written on it.

There were similar sentiments at the Valladolid-Barcelona game as fans showed their support for Brazil international Vinicius.

Barcelona forward Raphinha - pictured above - removed his shirt when substituted to show a message of support for Vinicius: "As long as the colour of the skin is more important than the brightness of the eyes, there will be war."

Real Madrid forward Vinicius - who showed his appreciation of Raphinha's gesture on social media - was set to serve a two or three-match ban after being sent off at Valencia on Sunday when he was the alleged target of racial chants.

But Spain's competition