Gareth Southgate believes the fight against racism in football may have reached a defining moment as the fall-out from the abuse levelled against Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior in Valencia last weekend continues. The England boss has led calls for stricter punishment since his side came close to walking off the field after some players were subjected to racial abuse during a match in Bulgaria in 2019. 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 were given a partial stadium ban for five matches plus a fine of 45,000 euros (£39,000) – a punishment the club called “totally disproportionate”, while Valencia head coach Ruben Baraja vowed to lead the fight back against what he described as “smears”. Southgate said: “It is a disgusting situation. I think it is so bad that it looks like it is going to force change. I am hoping there will be something positive to come from it. “If anyone suggests to me we don’t have a problem in society with racism then there is another example of what we are dealing with, and more examples of people burying their heads in the sand, quite frankly. “Hopefully it is a story that doesn’t just disappear in 24-48 hours without there being some significant change.” The action by the Spanish football federation (RFEF), who order that Valencia shut the Mario Kempes south stand, where the alleged abuse happened, for five matches, was strongly criticised by the club, who vowed to appeal. That criticism was echoed by Baraja in a prepared statement prior to a press conference on Wednesday, in which he stressed he was “absolutely against racism”, but 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.” Earlier, Valencia had issued a robust statement against the ruling, saying: “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 will appeal to the last instance the closure of the stand, a sanction that it considers totally unfair and one more offense in the latest disciplinary decisions that have been taken against the club Valencia official statement “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.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jos Buttler excited to be part of Lancashire’s Vitality Blast campaign No regrets for Eddie Jones as he relishes Twickenham return with Barbarians LTA’s fine for banning players contributes to operating losses of £9.5million

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Getafe head coach Jose Bordalas has defended the club’s decision to hand Mason Greenwood a way back into football. The 21-year-old joined the LaLiga side on loan from Manchester United, who suspended him in January 2022 over allegations relating to a young woman after images and videos were posted online, on transfer deadline day. Greenwood faced charges including attempted rape and assault, but the Crown Prosecution Service announced in February that the case had been discontinued. Asked about the decision to sign the one-cap England international after his side’s 2-1 league defeat at Real Madrid on Saturday, Bordalas told a press conference: “It is a very delicate situation to trivialise that issue. “Everyone knows what happened and appropriate measures were taken. Everyone knows how it ended, with a non-convictory sentence. “He is a footballer of a very high level and arrives at Getafe with enormous enthusiasm.” Reports suggested United might try to reintegrate Greenwood into the squad at Old Trafford after concluding an internal investigation, but they revealed last week he would be leaving the club by mutual agreement after a public outcry. Asked if signing Greenwood, who was not involved in the matchday squad at the Bernabeu, might prompt an unfavourable reaction, Bordalas added: “I can only speak at a footballing level. “We all know the potential he has. He is a very young boy and we hope that he adapts to a very different League. Surely he wants to recover his professional status and Getafe can help him in that sense.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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The 2022 World Cup will possibly go down as the most controversial in history. Hosts Qatar have an appalling human rights record and more than 6,000 migrant workers have died during construction on the stadiums due to the country's extreme heat - which is why the tournament is being held in the winter as opposed to the summer. Given the gigantic elephant in the room and the very awkward political situation surrounding the tournament it's going to be very hard to try and enjoy the tournament but we'll try our best. Rather than dwell on what's to come we've instead decided to have a trip down memory lane and revel in some true football nostalgia because after all, that's kinda what the World Cup is all about. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Every four years we are greeted with images of Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Moore, Beckenbauer and other greats who all achieved immortality thanks to their exploits at the Word Cup and a few of them scored some decent goals too. Brazilian screamers, mazy Argentine dribbles, well-worked German team goals and the odd sprinkling of Italian audacity is what we watch the World Cup for, so it now seems like no better time to rank, in our opinion, the 100 greatest World Cup goals ever. We'll be releasing the list slowly - 10 a day until the tournament starts on November 20th so naturally we're starting at the bottom with numbers 100-90. 100. Maicon, Brazil vs North Korea 2010 The classic 'did or didn't he mean it' goal. Maicon, perhaps best known beyond this goal for being given the run around by a young Gareth Bale, struck this seemingly impossible strike to break the deadlock against a very stubborn North Korean team in one of the better games of the 2010 group stages. Maicon Amazing goal vs North Korea - HD www.youtube.com 99. Kieran Trippier, England vs Croatia 2018 Before he was the talismanic Newcastle captain causing the Toon Army to have dreams beyond their wildest reckoning, Kieran Trippier briefly had the entirety of England dreaming of a first World Cup final since 1966 when he scored this sumptuous free kick against Croatia in the opening minutes of the 2018 semi-final against Croatia. Kieran Trippier Goal In The World Cup Semi Finals!!! www.youtube.com 98. Andreas Ogris, Austria vs USA 1990 Austria had a pretty miserable Italia 90 and had already been eliminated by the time they played the United States in their final group game. Thankfully for them they did have something to cheer about when striker Andreas Ogris found a burst of energy to score sublime solo counterattack goal as part of a 2-1 win. Ogris austria 1990.avi www.youtube.com 97. Philippe Albert, Belgium vs Germany 1994 Newcastle fans will remember Albert, the great Belgian defender capable of scoring some gorgeous goals, and wouldn't you know it? He could score them for Belgium too. This neat little give-and-go was just a consolation though in an otherwise excellent second-round game against Germany which ended 3-2. 02/07/1994 Belgium v Germany youtu.be 96. Zinedine Zidane, France vs Italy 2006 You won't see many penalties on this list mostly because few of them are panenkas that rattle off the bar in a World Cup final. This is Zidane we are talking about who had the arrogance and confidence to pull this off in his last ever match as a player which ended in disgrace following his infamous head butt on Marco Materazzi. Zinedine Zidane Penalty Kick France V Italy FIFA World Cup Final 2006 www.youtube.com 95. Jared Borgetti, Mexico v Italy 2002 Headers are usually straightforward affairs with little flamboyance. That wasn't the case when journeyman Mexican striker Jared Borgetti got his bonnet on the end of this cross and seemingly defied the laws of physics and the English language we're not quite sure how to describe this goal so you'll just have to watch it. Jared Borgetti Mexico vs Italy 1-0 First Round World Cup 2002 Dutch commentary www.youtube.com 94. Keisuke Honda, Japan vs Denmark 2010 Ahh, the Jabulani. One of the most unpredictable and derided World Cup balls ever created which seemingly had a mind of its own. A perfect example of this would be the free kick that Japan legend Keisuke Honda scored against Denmark in 2010 which dipped and swerved all over the place. Keisuke Honda 'Magical Goal' Vs Denmark www.youtube.com 93. Eric Wynalda, USA vs Switzerland 1994 USA's first goal of the first World Cup that they ever hosted (they'll return as co-hosts in 2026 along with Mexico and Canada) was one to remember as one of their most celebrated players Eric Wynalda scored a textbook curling free-kick in the opening game against Switzerland which ended 1-1. The kits weren't bad either. Eric Wynalda Goal - World Cup 1994 - Group A | USA - Switzerland 1:1 | 45' www.youtube.com 92. Hwangbo Kwan, South Korea v Spain 1990 This South Korean thunderbolt from Kwan was one of the few things the Koreans could celebrate as it was the only goal they scored. The strike was so ferocious that it reportedly registered at 114 km/h. It didn't bother Spain's Michel too much who scored a hat-trick in this game, with all three strikes deserving a shoutout too. 1990 (June 17) Spain 3-South Korea 1 (World Cup).mpg www.youtube.com 91. Ilie Dumitrescu, Romania vs Argentina 1994 Romania's 1994 squad were a wonderful team full of mercurial players capable of divine pieces of individual brilliance. One of them was former Tottenham star Ilie Dumistrescu who scored this brilliantly simple goal as Romania knocked Argentina out of the USA 94. DUMITRESCU - against argentina 1994 www.youtube.com 90. Robbie Keane, Ireland vs Germany 2002 Not the prettiest goal this and is as route one as they come but there was something special about this Ireland team who really punched above their weight in 2002, with this strike by the great Robbie Keane summing up the dogged determination from Mick McCarthy's team. Just a shame the other Keane wasn't there to see it. (HQ) Robbie Keane Last Minute Goal Republic of Ireland v Germany 2002 World Cup www.youtube.com Click for goals 89-80 Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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