Spanish public prosecutors are seeking a one-year prison sentence and a €2,880 ($3,400) fine for a man who mimicked a monkey after Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé scored in a match last year.
Prosecutors said the accused, “acting with evident contempt for the player’s skin colour,” shouted and made “denigrating gestures” targeting Mbappe during a match against Real Oviedo in August.
The gestures, including “simulating primate movements and sounds,” were clearly audible to spectators, prosecutors said in a statement.
It was the first incident targeting the French star since his arrival at Real Madrid in 2024, although racist abuse remains common in La Liga.
Mbappe’s Brazilian teammate Vinícius Junior has frequently been targeted with racist abuse since joining the club in 2018 and is at the centre of a new controversy.
Vinicius has accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him during a Champions League game this month, which the Argentine denied. Albacete fans reportedly chanted racist songs against him in January.
In May 2025, five Valladolid supporters were jailed for a year for racist insults aimed at Vinícius in 2022.
Four members of an Atletico Madrid ultra group received prison sentences for displaying an effigy of Vinicius in January 2023, though the punishment was later changed to fines.
