“I’m not optimistic” – Pep Guardiola makes damning admission on La Liga following Vinicius Jr. racism incident

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has offered his support to Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. following the racial abuse directed at the Brazilian by Valencia fans last week.

Play was halted for six minutes in the second half at the Mestalla Stadium when Vinicius Jr. was pointing at a few fans in the home stands who were making gestures of racially abusive nature towards the 22-year-old.

Having been at the end of vile racist abuse numerous times in the La Liga this season, the Real Madrid forward has voiced his frustrations on social media and the lax punishment for racism within Spanish football has raised doubts over Vinicius Jr’s future in Madrid.

Speaking ahead of Manchester City’s visit to Brentford in their final Premier League game of the campaign, Pep Guardiola was quizzed for his thoughts on the incident at the Mestalla Stadium and if La Liga should learn a thing or two from the English top-flight.

“They should. Here (in England), they are so strict (when fighting racism). They know what they have to do,” the former Barcelona manager said in a press conference on Friday afternoon.

“This (racism) is a problem everywhere. Thinking that we are better than our neighbours, we are better than the other one – for all generations everywhere. Our ancestors come from migrants, wars, dictators and have to move on from countries.”

Manchester City remain on course to pull off a historic treble of trophies at the end of the season after collecting their third Premier League title on the trot last week, with FA Cup and Champions League finals against Manchester United and Inter Milan set to follow in the coming weeks.

Guardiola offered his support to Vinicius Jr. and has condemned racism within football. “Build families there and come back to where you’re born. The problem is that there is racism everywhere,” the 52-year-old added.

“Not just for gender, but for colour. Believing that our language is better than the other one, our country is better than the other one.

“We need to accept diversity like a human being – but right now, we are far away from that. Hopefully we can get better in Spain, but I’m not optimistic. There are a lot of black people stepping forward to defending what they should not defend. Hopefully justice will do it.”