Home » Madrid-Sociedad Copa del Rey match paused over Asencio chants

Madrid-Sociedad Copa del Rey match paused over Asencio chants

The Copa del Rey match between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad was briefly suspended due to crowd chants targeting Raul Asencio.

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Copa del Rey match paused over Asencio chants

Referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martínez paused the match just before halftime after Vinícius Junior reported hearing chants of “Asencio, die.”

The official activated Spain’s anti-hate protocol, displaying a message on the stadium’s big screens and announcing it over loudspeakers.

“No to racist, xenophobic or intolerant chants. Support the team, respecting the opponent,” the message said.

Asencio is accused of sharing a sexually explicit video of a minor recorded by two former Real Madrid youth players.

A court in the Canary Islands has ruled that the investigation into Asencio’s role will continue.

Affected by the chants

Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti substituted Asencio at halftime and replaced him with Lucas Vazquez.

Ancelotti revealed that the chants have affected the defender emotionally.

“Vinícius spoke to the referee, the referee stopped the game and applied the protocol,” Ancelotti said during his postmatch news conference.”

“[The referee] did the right thing. After that I took [Asencio] off. The player had two things: he was affected by [the chants], and he had a yellow card. So I took him off.”

“Nobody likes a stadium to sing ‘die’ at them. [Asencio] was affected in that sense. He wasn’t exactly happy. So I preferred to take him off. His emotions might have affected him.”

Meanwhile, Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil also condemned the “Asencio die” chants at the Reale Arena.

“If that happened — because I didn’t hear it — I condemn it. We don’t like that happening in our stadium or any stadium. We condemn those chants, it can’t happen,” he said.

Madrid earned a 1-0 first leg victory over Sociedad, with Endrick scoring the game’s only goal in the 19th minute.