Effigy of Black soccer star Vinícius Jr. hanged from bridge in Madrid

Spanish national police have opened an investigation “for a possible hate crime,” after an effigy of Real Madrid star Vinícius Junior was hanged from a bridge in Madrid, the national police’s press office for the Madrid region told CNN on Thursday. In videos which have been widely viewed on social media, the effigy – which was dressed in a Real Madrid shirt with Vinícius’ name and No. 20 on the back – was shown hanging from a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground along with a banner which read: “Madrid hates Real.” Police from the Hortaleza station, nearest the bridge, went to remove it as soon as they became aware of the effigy on Thursday morning at around 8:30 a.m. local time (2:30 a.m. ET), but when they arrived, the banner reading “Madrid hates Real” was no longer hanging there, the press office said. Real Madrid faces Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal on Thursday evening at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. In a statement released on Twitter, the Spanish lea...