Atletico Madrid fans caught on film racially abusing Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr

Real Madrid players celebrate after teammate Rodrygo scored the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid's win over Atletico Madrid was overshadowed by some abhorrent racist chanting aimed at Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr. before the match.

Atletico Madrid fans were on Sunday filmed racially abusing Vinicius Jr. outside their Metropolitano Stadium ahead of the Madrid derby.

In a video published on social media by radio station Cope in the build up to the game that Real went on to win 2-1, chants of 'Vinicius is a monkey' were heard from a large number of Atletico supporters outside the Wanda Metropolitano as Real Madrid's team bus arrived at the ground.

Local media also reported what sounded like monkey chants could also be heard among the whistles the first time the Brazilian touched the ball.

That was not repeated afterwards, and when Vinicius lost the ball attempting a late rainbow flick, they chanted "stupid, stupid."

Atletico Madrid did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said on Twitter: "Support Atleti with passion and respect for opponents."

Pedro Bravo, the head of the Spanish Football Agents Association, was criticised last week for saying Vinicius needed to stop "monkeying around" when celebrating goals, with a number of Brazilian footballers, including Neymar and Dani Alves, denouncing the comments as racist.

Bravo said that the comment was not intended to be interpreted as racist, and instead was just a common turn of phrase used in Spanish.

Real Madrid criticized the comment on Friday, and Vinicius issued a video statement on Saturday in which the Brazilian eloquently explained that dancing forms part of his cultural expression, and cited other soccer players, both Black and white, who also have danced after scoring.

"Repeat after me, racist: I am not going to stop dancing," Vinicius said.

"I was victim of xenophobia and racism in a single declaration, but none of this began yesterday," Vinicius said over freeze frames of social media posts using racist language to insult him.

Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr releases powerful statement in response to vile 'monkey' slur.[Twitter]

Vinicius and scorer Rodrygo celebrated Real's opening goal in the game by dancing in front of the Atletico fans as Real continued their perfect start to the season.

Vinicius posted a picture on Instagram with the caption "Dance where you want", while his international team mate Gabriel Jesus of Arsenal said earlier on Sunday that his dancing celebration for his goal against Brentford in the Premier League was dedicated to his friend.