Spanish police have arrested three people in connection with the racist abuse suffered by Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior during a match with Valencia on Sunday, and detained a further four suspects over an effigy of the player that was hung from a bridge in Madrid four months ago.

In a brief statement on Tuesday morning, the Policía Nacional said three young men had been arrested in Valencia over the “racist behaviour” that took place during the match at the city’s Mestalla stadium.

The announcement came hours after the force revealed that four people had been arrested on suspicion of hate crimes relating to the hanging of an inflatable dummy dressed in Vinícius’s strip from a bridge in the Spanish capital on 26 January.