Vinícius Júnior has asked Javier Tebas to retract an allegation of piracy, sources have told ESPN, after the LaLiga president claimed the Real Madrid star watched the club’s Champions League game at Liverpool illegally.
The Brazil international missed the game with a hamstring injury and published an Instagram story that appeared to show him watching the high-profile European clash on a Brazilian TV channel while at his home in Madrid.
During an event on audiovisual fraud held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tebas said that Vinícius had committed an illegal act by not watching the game on the channel that holds the rights to the Champions League in Spain.
“If it is in Madrid, and I think it was in Madrid, it is piracy,” Tebas said. “Access to the content to watch the Champions League in Spain must be done through Movistar Television.
“To watch this content, you need a VPN or a satellite dish pointed somewhere else. There must be active conduct that goes beyond the scope of Movistar. He was hacking the game.”
A source told ESPN that Vinícius’ staff has contacted LaLiga directly and shown that the player does not use a VPN to watch football on Brazilian TV channels.
Instead, the ESPN source said, Vinícius has an international plan with a telephone operator in Brazil, which gives him access to Brazilian broadcasts without any restrictions.
The player’s staff, who live and work with him, also use the same service, the source said.
A source at LaLiga confirmed to ESPN that Vinícius’ representatives had contacted them to discuss the matter.
Vinícius and Tebas have previously clashed on social media over the league’s handling of racism in Spanish football, after the LaLiga president objected to the player’s claim that nothing was being done to tackle the issue.
Information from Alex Kirkland contributed to this report.
