Santi Canizares panned for ‘disgusting’ comment on Raul Asencio accusation | OneFootball

Former Real Madrid product and Valencia icon Santi Canizares has been heavily criticised for his comments surrounding Real Madrid defender Raul Asencio. The 22-year-old defender stands accused of distribution of child pornography, although the investigation is still ongoing.

During Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey semi-final clash with Real Sociedad, in which Los Blancos ran out the 1-0 winners, Asencio was taken off at half-time. Chants of ‘Asencio, die’ could be heard from the crowd at the Reale Arena, and he was withdrawn at half-time, with Carlo Ancelotti saying that those chants played a role in his substitution.

The incident formed much of the post-match discussion, but Canizares has come in for significant criticism after his comments on the investigation into Asencio.

“When you say child, you are talking about 8, 9, 10 years old…” “Or 16, which is still a minor,” Angel Garcia responds on Cadena Cope (as quoted by Sport), but Canizares explains “it is not the same for justice or morality.”

He then went on to evaluate the chants at the Reale Arena too.

“It is inconceivable that to have people singing ‘die’ to you on a football pitch. They sing it to him for an alleged crime. It turns out that in this society that we have created, I don’t really know how, they already know what he has done, the sentence he has, etc… when a judge has been analysing for a year or so to make a decision.”

Before describing the alleged crime as a ‘mistake’.

Image via Marca

“We have all made mistakes, and maybe Asencio too. If you have made a mistake, a judge will come to punish you. You comply and that’s it. And he is just another person. If the boy has made a mistake, the judge will give him a sentence that, if he fulfills it, he becomes just another player. Let’s not think that just because someone makes a mistake in his life, he is of no use and must be sentenced seven times.”

Canizares comments related to the age of a minor have been described as ‘disgusting’ and ‘vomit-inducing’ on social media. Certainly he has a point when it comes to the notion that Asencio is innocent until proven guilty, but he himself begins evaluating the merits of the case, and indeed the severity of child pornography.