Durban – AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco Martin has come out in defence of his country Spain, where Brazilian football star Vinicius Junior has suffered from racist attacks in La Liga.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Martin said Spain was not a racist country.
He said the highly-publicised racist abuse directed at the Real Madrid star was not an indication that Spain was racist.
Usuthu coach Martin rejected suggestions that Spain was a “racist country”, but admitted there were individuals who were racist.
“It’s something that unluckily, is all around the world… I need to say that Spain is an amazing country, and we are not a racist country as I think in all the countries there are racist people,” said Martin.
Coach Martin – nicknamed “Cijimpi” by Usuthu fans – further explained the elements which he said influence racism incidents in Spanish football.
“And it’s a matter of education, it’s a matter where we are coming from and where we go as a country,” the Spanish coach said.
“Unlucky there are still people doing like that… some of them it is just lack of education, some of them its beliefs which is even more dangerous.”
The Usuthu coach made his remarks at the AmaZulu FC open media day at the club’s “Fan Experience” shop in Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The AmaZulu coach also spoke about his team’s readiness going into what is expected to be a heated encounter with TS Galaxy on Saturday.
Martin mentioned that their previous clash with the Rockets will play no role in Saturday’s meeting at Mpumalanga.
“For me, it’s one more game… I don’t have that feeling of revenge because we lost in the Carling Cup,” said Martin.
“There are games you know…sometimes when you are not doing the right thing is when I feel like we need to show something else but in that case I think we played a pretty good game.”
Cijimpi further mentioned that his troops will be weary of the dangers that striker Sammir Nurkovic will be posing to Usuthu’s defense come Saturday.
Martin said the former Chiefs player is “one of the best strikers in the league”.
“Galaxy are lucky to have a striker like him. Probably he’s not getting the same chances as most strikers in this league, but his rate of conversion is much higher.”
