Bellingham ‘used to’ racist abuse in Spain

MANCHESTER
Jude Bellingham said he and his Real Madrid teammates have become accustomed to dealing with racist abuse at away grounds in Spain, but the England international does not believe the authorities will do enough to quell the problem.
A racist gesture was made towards France’s Aurelien Tchouameni after he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at Real Mallorca on Saturday. Brazilian star Vinicius Junior has been a repeated target of racial abuse and Bellingham said he and his teammates were “used to” have to deal with “horrible” treatment.
“I think in the games where we go away in La Liga especially, you almost get so used to it,” said Bellingham at a pre-match press conference ahead of Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final, second leg away to Manchester City.
“I think it’s a horrible way for a player to have to prepare for a game knowing that they’re probably going to get racially abused. It’s disgusting. It shouldn’t happen. The people in power need to do more.”
Mallorca publicly condemned the gesture and said they are working with police to identify the culprit.
Bellingham said he had not even been aware of the incident, racist abuse is so frequent.
“It’s definitely a call out for the people who are in charge to take control,” he added.
“I doubt that will happen and it’s going to be something that I imagine we will still have to just deal with going into games.”
Bellingham is back in his homeland as Madrid seek to exact revenge on Wednesday for their Champions League semi-final thrashing by holders City last season.
The tie is finely poised after a thrilling 3-3 draw in the first leg last week.
Pep Guardiola’s men won 4-0 at the Etihad when the sides met 11 months ago on their way to winning the Champions League for the first time.