Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior has come out in support of Lamine Yamal who was subjected to racial abuse during El Clasico match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Vinicius have been outspoken against racism in football, addressing the abuse he has personally endured.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) Vincius wrote, “It’s regrettable what happened yesterday at the Bernabéu with racist insults. There is no place for these criminals in our society. All my support to Lamine, Ansu and Raphinha. I know that Madrid and the police will do things to identify and punish the guilty!!

Yamal who scored in Barcelona’s stunning win, became a target of racist chanting from a section of fans at the Santiago Bernabéu. The incident has led LaLiga to open an investigation. The club released a statement which said, “Real Madrid strongly condemns any behavior involving racism, xenophobia, or violence in football and sports,” 

“Real Madrid has launched an investigation to locate and identify the perpetrators of these regrettable and despicable insults, in order to take the appropriate disciplinary and legal actions.”

Barcelona beats Real Madrid

Barcelona ha the first bragging right of the season in the El Clasico with 4-0 win over Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu. Besides Yamal, Lewandowski and Rapinha were the other goal scorers. The loss meant Real Madrid lost the opportunity to equal FC Barcelona’s record of 43 unbeaten matches in La Liga history occurring between 2017 and 2018.

However, Yamal managed to break Alfonso Navarro’s 77-year-old record when he scored a goal in El Classico. Navarro was 17 years and 356 days old when he accomplished the feat, but Yamal did it in 17 years and 106 days. Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe had two goals ruled out for offside on a frustrating first Clasico appearance for Los Blancos, who now trail league leaders Barcelona by six points.

India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said on Tuesday that middle-order batters KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan are locked in a selection battle for the second Test against New Zealand here even though head coach Gautam Gambhir is keen to give the former, a long rope.

With India looking to bounce back from the eight-wicket thrashing at Bengaluru in the opening Test, focus will be on the team combination with Washington Sundar being added to the squad. Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are both aiming to shake off injury concerns for the match starting Thursday.

“Yeah, there’s no point in sugarcoating it, there’s a fight for a spot,” ten Doeschate told the media when asked if Rahul and Sarfaraz were battling for a place in the team, here at the MCA Stadium ahead of India’s training session.

“Sarfaraz was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test (and) said how many balls do you play at (and) miss at? He didn’t play at (and) miss at one ball and that’s what tends to happen when you’re not getting runs.

“There’s certainly no concerns about KL, he’s batting nicely, he’s in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what’s going to be best for the team,” he said.

Sarfaraz scored a second-innings 150 in the Bengaluru game, while Rahul remained off-colour in both essays.

While admitting that it is difficult to keep Rahul out of the equation in the Test format, ten Doeschate said head coach Gautam Gambhir is “keen to” give him a long rope.

“It’s not like we’re worried about his form. If you go on just the past three months since Gauti has been in here, he’s keen to give him (Rahul) as much rope as we can. We have a lot of faith in him,” he said.

“But at the same time, it’s a very competitive environment, with Sarfaraz getting 150 plus runs (222 not out) in the Irani Trophy final. The decision will be what’s best for the team, but we’ll certainly back all the guys in,” he added.

“He’ll be good to keep in the Test as well” – Ryan Ten Doeschate on Rishabh Pant

Pant, who did not keep wickets for a significant part of the opening Test, and Shubman Gill, who missed the match due to stiffness in his neck, are close to attaining their full fitness.

“Rishabh is pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharmna) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed, he’ll be good to keep in the Test as well,” he said.

“He (Gill) looks so (available for this Test). He has batted last week in Bangalore, he had a few nets, he’s got a little bit of discomfort, but I think he’ll be good to go for the Test,” he added.

Ten Doeschate said the addition of Washington Sundar is “no desperate measure” but to add a bowling option who would take the ball away from the Kiwis left-handers.

“Definitely not. They (New Zealand) are filled with four left-handers in the XI. We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and we like the way he operates. It’s also nice to see that guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performance as well.”

“We just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for conditions here and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.

Team India star cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were involved in a heated argument with the umpires as day four of the opening Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru was on the verge of ending. With umpires Michael Gough and Paul Reiffel indicating that the light was not fit to continue playing, Kohli and Rohit had an animated chat.

The incident occurred after a very eventful first over of the innings sent down by Jasprit Bumrah. With Tom Latham pinned on the pads by the right-arm speedster on the third delivery, India went for the DRS. But ball-tracking indicated that the ball had pitched outside leg stump. At the end of the first over, the Kiwis stood 0-0 in pursuit of 107.

With the skies turning grey, the umpires brought out the light meter and directed players to head out of the ground. That is when the conversation took place between the Indian players and the umpires. However, rain had started pelting on the pitch soon after the players left the field.

Meanwhile, India were going strong at 408/3 and had taken a lead of 52, but Sarfaraz’s wicket of 150 sparked a massive collapse. Sarfaraz’s scalp ended a 177-run partnership with Rishabh Pant, who was removed for 99. Among the remaining batters, only KL Rahul and Ravichandran Ashwin made it to double figures and eventually lost eight wickets for 54 runs.

Should the Black Caps win, it will be their first Test victory on Indian soil since 1988.