Racist abuse caused a bit of drama in the La Liga match between Valencia and Cadiz on Sunday, April 4, 2021, when Valencia’s defender Mouctar Diakhaby was allegedly abused by Cadiz’s player Juan Cala.
During the first half of the match, Mouctar Diakhaby and Juan Cala collided so badly that the two players were not happy about the incident. But Diakhaby came out acting angrier.
His anger irritated the center-referee and had to show him a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct. However, that didn’t stop him from walking to the referee to discuss what transpired between him and Juan Cala. It was suspected that Diakhaby told the referee that he suffered racist abuse at the hands of Cala.
After a brief discussion with the referee which seemed unproductive, Diakhaby stormed out of the pitch and headed straight to the locker room when the scoreline was 1-1. His teammates joined him almost immediately in protest of the racist abuse.
During that period, Valencia’s official Twitter handle tweeted an agitation against racism and confirm that the team would return to the pitch to continue with their La Liga game against Cadiz.
π‘π’ π§π’ π₯ππππ¦π βπ½βπΏ
β Valencia CF π¦ππ (@valenciacf_en) April 4, 2021
The team have held a meeting and decided to continue the game, in order to fight for the honour of the club, but denounce racism of any kind.#CΓ‘dizValencia
However, Valencia’s players lasted in the locker room for 20 minutes before they returned to the pitch to continue with the game.
According to a tweet on Valencia’s Twitter handle, Mouctar Diakhaby was the one that urged his teammates to return to the pitch to continue with the game despite admitting that he was racially abused by Cala.
We offer our complete backing to @Diakhaby_5
β Valencia CF π¦ππ (@valenciacf_en) April 4, 2021
The player, who had received a racial insult, requested that his teammates return to the pitch.
WE SUPPORT YOU MOUCTAR
π‘π’ π§π’ π₯ππππ¦π βπ½βπΏ pic.twitter.com/iPtPSpdNYv
The match continued with Cala still in the lineup of Cadiz and Diakhaby in the lineup of Valencia. The victim remained in the game until the second half before he was substituted.
Valencia went on to lose the game 2-3. The win helped Cadiz to move to the 13th spot on the league table, one point away from the 12th placed Valencia.
After the game, Valencia captain Jose Gaya narrated how his teammate suffered racist abuse in the match and how the victim, Diakhaby urged them to return to the pitch.
He said: “Diakhaby mentioned to us there were some insults from the opposition, and we are not going to accept that.
“We decided to leave the pitch and were just waiting to see what was going to happen.
“We were going to stay with our team-mate but we were told we would have to leave the pitch, we came back on the pitch because we were told we were probably going to lose the game.
“That’s what happened and Diakhaby asked us to return as well and that’s why we decided to come back.
“We did what we were told – we were told to come back to the pitch or lose three points or possibly a few more but we did so because Diakhaby asked us to do so.
“He told us to continue but he didn’t want to – he’s not happy after the game, he’s quite upset and very hurt.”
