Arbeloa hails Vinicius' attitude amid difficult week
Real Madrid boss Alvaro Arbeloa hailed the attitude of Vinicius Junior after a difficult week for the winger.
Vinicius alleged that he was racially abused by Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni during Madrid's 1-0 win over the Portuguese side in the Champions League.
The Brazil international scored the winner ahead of the incident occurred, briefly walking off the field before returning to finish the match.
Los Blancos, who are top of LaLiga, face Osasuna on the weekend as they look to win a fifth consecutive match in all competitions.
Arbeloa has also won all five of his LaLiga games as Madrid manager and could become only the third manager in the club’s history to win his first six in the competition, after Vanderlei Luxemburgo in 2005 (W7) and his predecessor, Xabi Alonso, in 2025 (W6).
The former Madrid defender was full of praise for Vinicius ahead of their trip to Osasuna, insisting that they will defend him no matter what.
"He's been sad, like everyone else, and very indignant," said Arbeloa.
"It's a racist act that we don't want to see happen again; it has no place in our sport. We have a huge opportunity to make sure this doesn’t go unpunished.
"Vinicius is deciding matches, scoring amazing goals, carrying the team on his back, and he's not afraid.
"He can go through situations like the other day and still come back on the pitch. We all receive insults, unfortunately, but I've never been insulted because of my skin colour.
"I don't know if I'd be able to go back on the pitch like he did. We're going to be by his side, defending him."































