Villarreal veteran Dani Parejo on Vinicius Junior – ‘People call me a drunk, I don’t square up to everyone’

Villarreal veteran Dani Parejo has become the latest footballer to criticise Vinicius Junior’s attitude on the pitch, after he was asked about the Brazilian.

The 34-year-old penned a contract extension with the Yellow Submarine earlier this week, extending his stay with them through 2026. Parejo commented to Cadena SER, via Diario AS, that he was keen to keep playing in Spain, and saw little appeal in going ot Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile he described the whistling of Alvaro Morata from the Santiago Bernabeu while on Spain duty as ‘uncomfortable and unpleasant’.

“I don’t know what happens in other countries, but in Spain many times the coach gives the squad and when he doesn’t call up players who play for their teams, people start to say: ‘Spain, let them lose, I’m not going to watch the game.’ ‘. Spain, for me, is the greatest thing there is and always, whether I agree or not with those decisions, I think you have to cheer for your country, no matter what game it plays.”

He was also asked about Vinicius Junior. The game was played in part to address the fight against racism, and he held a tearful press conference before the match. He was involved in several scuffles during the game with Spain players though, including Aymeric Laporte, Morata, and Mikel Oyarzabal.

“He seems to me to be an extraordinary, spectacular player, with spectacular qualities. I have can’t imagine being in the scenario of being an important player on the best team in the world and having everyone praise me. But I think that we players have to dedicate ourselves to playing.”

“There are going to be clashes in every game. It seems that he is present in all of them, it is something to learn that he should work on. When you play for Madrid there is always a special atmosphere, they always get into it with the players, people always try to wind you up. But I have also gone to grounds there and they call me drunk or whatever, and I don’t square up to people or make gestures. That’s unnecessary. The footballer has to be above these situations. In certain behaviours, he is making a mistake.”

Parejo, formerly of Real Madrid has suffered no shortage of abuse himself during the course of his career. Nevertheless, a number of figures in Spain have failed to make the distinction between an insult and racism. Equally, the conversation has often been put into a binary of Vinicius’ behaviour and how he reacts to racism, when the two are linked but not necessarily the same thing.