Another week, another incident of supporter racism in soccer, this time in jolly ol’ London. After Valencia crumbled away to Arsenal 3-1 in the first leg of the Europa League semifinal, Telegraph journalist Tomé Morrissy-Swan captured a handful of Valencia supporters throwing up the Nazi salute and making monkey gestures at their rival fans:
(Shout out to the guy audibly scoffing a “oh, fuck off” as the Nazi salute goes up.)
Valencia issued a statement on Friday, condemning the behavior, while expressing “utter disgust and absolute intolerance” towards the gestures. The team also said it was working with authorities to identify the fans in order to take action against them, implying that they would lose their season tickets if they are in fact season ticket holders.
Not leaving well enough alone, though, the club also hit them with the “gotta hear both sides” argument:
3. While these actions are completely unjustifiable under any circumstances, VCF is also working to obtain more information about any possible provocations leading up to the verbal and gesticular exchange between the home and away stands.
That the club is investigating if the sudden slip into Nazism was justified is as 2019 a story as possible. Maybe the Valencia fans will say they were unaware of both Nazis and anti-black racism. Hey, it worked for Wayne Hennessey.