Drogba urges Vinicius Jr to 'keep dancing' as he voices support for Brazilian winger after racism row

Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba has voiced his support for Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr, urging him to keep dancing following a racism row.

Drogba is the latest high-profile personality to show his solidarity with the 22-year-old Brazil international who hit the headlines after he was dragged into a racism controversy and was told to “stop playing the monkey” by a Spanish agent last week.

“Dance bro, keep on dancing @vinijr #proudofyou,” Drogba said via a social media post on Monday.

Vinicius, who has four goals in La Liga this season, danced during Los Blancos's goal celebration against Real Mallorca in a fixture they won 4-1 at Santiago Bernabeu on September 11.

The winger danced to celebrate after scoring the second goal in the contest but it did not go down well with the agent who made the comment while working as a pundit on a Spanish outlet.

Vinicius has received support from all over the world with Brazil legend Pele among the first to urge him to keep celebrating in that manner.

“Football is joy. It’s a dance. It’s more than that. It’s a party,” Pele said last week. He added: “Although unfortunately, racism still exists, we won’t let that stop us from smiling. And we will continue to fight racism every day in this way: fighting for our right to be happy.”

Nigeria and Barcelona striker Asisat Oshoala also put club rivalry aside to stand with the Madrid youngster.

“The point here is that, the world will always try to force you to accept their belief but STAY FIRM, STAY YOU as far as you ain’t hurting no one. The world will adjust,” Oshoala said before Real faced Atletico in the Madrid derby on Sunday.

"Really looking forward to an actual group dance in this game [Madrid derby] ……I want that SMOKE plsssssssssssssss …..give us that showwwwwwwww, #SayNoToRacism #DanceDanceDance,” she added.

Oshoala got her wish as Vinicius ignored further racist chants and joined fellow Brazilian Rodrygo in doing a celebratory jig on the pitch after the latter brilliantly volleyed Carlo Ancelotti’s men in front.

Los Blancos won 2-1 but their win was overshadowed by some racist chanting aimed at Vinicius before the match.

Chants of ‘Vinicius is a monkey’ were heard from a section of Atletico fans outside the Wanda Metropolitano as Real’s team bus arrived at the stadium.