Police to investigate Islamophobic chants during Spain-Egypt match as Lamine Yamal responds

[p]At the RCDE Stadium ‌near Barcelona, the home ground of LaLiga ‌club [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/espanyol/QFfPdh1J/"]Espanyol[/a], Spain supporters chanted "who doesn't jump is a ‌Muslim" during the World Cup warm-up match which ‌ended in a goalless draw.[/p][p]Justice Minister Felix Bolanos denounced the chants on social media platform X, reiterating the ‌leftist government's stance against the rise ⁠of the far ‌right, which it associates with growing racism and xenophobia.[/p][p]"Racist ​insults and chants shame us as a society. The far right will not leave ​any space free of its hatred, and those who remain silent today are complicit," he wrote.[/p][p]The ⁠incident highlighted concerns ​about racism in Spanish soccer, a recurring issue notably involving [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real Madrid[/a]'s Brazilian forward [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vinicius-junior/CbwQ4Mws/"]Vinicius Jr[/a], who has been targeted in high-profile cases.[/p][p]The stadium displayed ‌messages on overhead screens, reminding fans that taking part in acts of racism and xenophobia was a crime, yet the chants continued.[/p][p]Spain's coach, Luis de la Fuente, told reporters that the racist behaviour of fans was intolerable.[/p][p][b]"They are not representative of football. They take advantage of football, as they do in other areas of life. We ‌need to isolate these people from society," he ​said.[/b][/p][p][b]The Spanish Football Federation said in a ‌message on social media that it "stands against racism in football and condemns any act of violence inside stadiums".[/b][/p][p]Catalonia's regional police force, Mossos d'Esquadra, said on Wednesday they had opened an ⁠investigation into the incident, ⁠without providing further ‌details.[/p][h2][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lamine-yamal/lAt3vEub/"]Lamine Yamal[/a] calls chant 'disrespectful' and 'unnacceptable'[/h2][p]Clearly, these chants were aimed at provoking the Egyptian team, but they also affected Lamine Yamal (18), who left the stadium visibly distressed, as seen in several videos circulating on social media.[/p][p][b]The [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/barcelona/SKbpVP5K/"]Barcelona[/a] player did not take long to respond, issuing a statement on his Instagram account: "Yesterday at the stadium, the chant 'if you don't jump, you're Muslim' was heard. I know it was aimed at the opposing team and not meant as a personal attack on me, but as a Muslim, it is still disrespectful and completely unacceptable," his message began.[/b][/p][embed guid="13993787-a607-49f6-9d4a-915fed924e80" url="https://www.instagram.com/p/DWlrsnWiEq0/?img_index=1" social-type="instagram" /][p]"Yesterday at the stadium, the chant 'if you don't jump, you're Muslim' was heard. I know it was aimed at the opposing team and not meant as a personal attack on me, but as a Muslim, it is still disrespectful and completely unacceptable.[/p][p][b]"I understand that not all fans are like this, but to those who sing these things: using a religion as a joke in a stadium only shows your ignorance and racism.[/b][/p][p]"Football is meant to be enjoyed and to support your team, not to disrespect people for who they are or what they believe in.[/p][p][b]"With that said, thank you to everyone who came to support us. See you at the World Cup."[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/egypt-bejDn7NN/spain-bLyo6mco/?mid=Op2f19Yr"]Check out the match report from the friendly with Flashscore.[/a][/p]