Valencia head coach Ruben Baraja has said his club will fight back against “smears” after they were handed a five-game partial stadium closure and hefty fine following the racist abuse aimed at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior. Speaking at a press conference, Baraja stressed he was “absolutely against racism”, but echoed Valencia’s earlier claim that the sanction was “unfair and disproportionate”, and added: “I am not going to allow the Valencia CF fans and Mestalla to be smeared with labels that do not represent us. “Just as a player rightly fights back against insults and I support that with all my might, we as a club and a fanbase rebel against those who, during the days since the game, have accused us of being what we are not.” Vinicius threatened to leave the pitch in the second half of Sunday’s LaLiga match at the Mestalla after being subjected to alleged monkey chants from the crowd and Real Madrid, who said the incident constituted a “hate crime”, filed a complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office. In response, Valencia have been ordered to shut the Mario Kempes south stand, where the alleged abuse happened, for five matches and have also been fined 45,000 euros (£39,000) by the Spanish football federation (RFEF). Reacting to that sanction, Valencia said in a strongly worded statement on Tuesday evening: “Valencia CF wishes to show its total disagreement and indignation at the unfair and disproportionate penalty imposed by the competition committee on the club with the closure of the stand for five games. “Valencia CF wants to publicly denounce that in this resolution of the RFEF competition committee they show evidence that contradicts what the national police and LaLiga say. “In addition, this sanction is based on evidence that the club has not been able to see and without giving us a hearing. “Valencia CF has condemned, condemns and will condemn in the most energetic way any act of racism or violence. These behaviours have no place in football or in society and we will continue to act in the most forceful way to eradicate this scourge. “For this reason, Valencia CF is collaborating from the first minute with the police and all relevant authorities to clarify the events that occurred last Sunday. “In addition, it has applied the maximum possible sanction with the expulsion for life from our stadium to the fans that the police have identified for their racist behaviour. “For this reason we consider that penalising and depriving all the fans who were not involved in these unfortunate incidents from seeing their team is a totally disproportionate, unfair and unprecedented measure against which we will fight. “The fight against racism requires the real commitment of all the parties involved without using it as a pretext to incur serious injustices. “Valencia CF will appeal to the last instance the closure of the stand, a sanction that it considers totally unfair and one more offence in the latest disciplinary decisions that have been taken against the club. Valencia CF asks for the utmost respect and rigour for our institution and fans.” In announcing the punishment against Valencia, the RFEF said in a statement: “The competition committee has sanctioned Valencia CF with the partial closure of the Mestalla stadium for five matches, more specifically the Mario Kempes south stand, following the events that occurred during the league match between the local team and Real Madrid CF. “It is considered proven that, as reflected by the referee in his minutes, there were racist shouts at Vinicius, a Real Madrid CF player, during the aforementioned match, altering the normal course of the match and considering the infractions very serious.” LaLiga players and officials called for racism to be tackled in Spain in the wake of Sunday’s match. Before Tuesday night’s games between Real Valladolid and Barcelona, and Celta Vigo and Girona, players from both sides, as well as the match officials, stood behind banners which read ‘Racism, out of football’. LaLiga shared a pre-match clip from the Celta-Girona game on its official Twitter account with the hashtag #JUNTOSContraElRacismo (#TOGETHERagainstRacism). The footage also showed a supporter holding up a placard with ‘No Al Racismo’ (No to Racism) written on it. There were similar sentiments at the Valladolid-Barcelona game as fans showed their support for Brazil international Vinicius. Barcelona forward Raphinha removed his shirt when substituted to show a message which read: “As long as the colour of the skin is more important than the brightness of the eyes, there will be war.” Vinicius was not included in Real’s 23-man squad for Wednesday night’s LaLiga match against Rayo Vallecano at the Bernabeu. The forward’s red card against Valencia had been rescinded by the RFEF but the 22-year-old did not train on Tuesday, with Real coach Carlo Ancelotti saying the winger had some discomfort in his knee. Read More Jordi Alba to leave Barcelona at end of season Valencia appeal stadium closure for racist chants and demand ‘respect’ for fans Valencia stadium partially shut after racist chants at Vinicius Jr ‘Powerless’ La Liga calls for radical change after Vinicius Jr racist abuse Real Madrid file hate crime complaint after Vinicius targeted by racist abuse Commentator sparks outrage for criticising Vinicius reaction to facing racist abuse

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YouTube star Jake Paul mocked the Dallas crowd as he was loudly booed after beating UFC star Nate Diaz in their highly-anticipated crossover boxing fight. Diaz was far and away the crowd favourite in Texas as Paul – who happily played the role of villain in the lead-up to the fight – was booed on his way to the ring, faced audible chants of ‘f*** Jake Paul’ throughout the fight and then continued to be jeered after his hand was raised in victory. The 26-year-old hit back at the American Airlines Center crowd during his post-fight interview however, as he cupped his hand to his ear amid the boos and stopped mid-answer to mock the supporters by saying “boo if you’re a virgin” before laughing sarcastically to himself. “He's tough, he's real tough, that's what he's known for but tough in this sport doesn't work,” began Paul, in reference to his opponent. And as the boos heightened, he continued “Boo if you're a virgin. Ha. Haha.” Paul had largely dominated the fight against Diaz, who was fighting for the first time since leaving the UFC and although proved an awkward opponent on his boxing debut, lacked the power to really hurt the heavily-favoured YouTuber. Paul scored a knockdown in the fifth round of their 10-round contest with a vicious left hook but 38-year-old Diaz got back to his feet and made the final bell. However, the judges’ scorecards showed the relatively one-sided nature of the victory as the younger man prevailed 97-92, 98-91, 98-91. That moved his boxing record to 7-1 and, having gone 10 rounds for the first time in his young career, he was keen to take the plaudits while also crediting Diaz for his heart. “I knocked him down and won basically every round, I think he won one round,” continued Paul. “But he's a warrior – I had him hurt in the first round, he kept on coming. No one is taking that much damage. “All credit to my team and my conditioning, I went 10 rounds in my eighth fight – it's unheard of. I've only been boxing for three years and beat a UFC legend who I was watching this growing up.” Before this bout, Paul had knocked out MMA fighters Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley – the latter a former UFC champion – and beat UFC legend Anderson Silva on points, although his most recent fight was a first career defeat to Tommy Fury. In that long-awaited fight in Saudi Arabia, Fury – half-brother of world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson – was knocked down but emerged victorious on points. Diaz is a longtime favourite of MMA fans – as shown by the vocal support he received in Dallas – but achieved crossover fame when he submitted Conor McGregor in March 2016, five months before losing a narrow decision to the Irishman. Last September, Diaz won his final UFC fight by submitting Tony Ferguson. Although a rematch to avenge his loss to Fury would seem to be a possibility after the Brit completes his own scheduled bout with another YouTuber, KSI, in October, Paul insisted his focus was the offer of $10m he has put on the table to face Diaz once more, under MMA rules. “I want to run this back in MMA,” explained Paul. “10 million dollars, PFL, that's the offer, let's run this back in MMA. Make it fair. I won one, now it's your chance in your home territory. MMA. Let's do it.” While Diaz didn’t fully commit to a rematch, he did sound amenable to the possibility, saying: “We're gonna have to try to do it. But I had the single leg in the first and the choke in the ninth [referencing a couple of MMA moves he tried to slip into the fight], so I already won that battle!” Read More I hate to admit it, but it’s time to face facts – the Paul brothers are generational talents Jake Paul’s latest fight is not about Jake Paul The hidden side of Jake Paul Jake Paul’s latest fight is not about Jake Paul Nate Diaz reveals ‘secret’ that he and Jake Paul share Amanda Serrano announces surprise return to MMA with PFL

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