It was an emotional moment as Partizan Belgrade's Brazilian midfielder Everton Luiz left the field in tears yesterday after being racially abused by supporters of local city rivals Rad.
Luiz, 28, was jeered and taunted with monkey noises every time he touched the ball and some Rad fans unfurled a banner insulting the Brazilian towards the end of the game.
At the final whistle, Luiz made a one-fingered gesture in the direction the Rad fans, who reacted furiously and prompting the home team's players to confront him.
A full scale brawl broke out and police had to move in to prevent tensions spilling over as Luiz headed for the dressing room in tears.
Partizan won the game 1-0 to stay second in the table six points behind Red Star Belgrade.
Speaking after the match, he said: 'I couldn't hold back the tears as I had to face racist insults from the terraces for 90 minutes.
'I was even more shocked by the attitude of opposing players who, instead of calming things down, backed this behaviour.'
Partizan coach Marko Nikolic, who was sacked by Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana last April for racially abusing one of his own players, said Luiz was likely to face disciplinary action from the club.
However he urged Serbia's football authorities to punish Rad's supporters.
He said: 'Everton should not have reacted but something provoked his outburst, didn't it?
'Both sides in the incident should be punished. These things happen in football but it is now up to the authorities to sanction the offenders. It's a return to the reality of Serbian football.'
While at Olimpija, Nikolic called the club's Nigerian striker Blessing Eleke a 'black idiot' for his over-exuberant celebration of an equalising goal, which meant his team had less time to find a winner in a 1-1 home draw with Zavrc.
Serbian football has been marred by several racist incidents in recent years.
In 2012, England U21's victory over Serbia was marred by racism and violence as tension boiled over at the end of the match.
Defender Danny Rose was sent off after the final whistle for kicking a football into the crowd after being racially abused and having stones thrown at him during the game.
England defender Nedum Onuoha was racially abused during the 2007 Under-21 European Championship game against Serbia in the Netherlands, for which Serbia were fined £16,000 by Uefa.
I'd draw happiness from the fact that he's going back to his luxury home and fantastic life and the low life's who shouted at him probably live in tents ����
ReplyDeleteWhen someone cries on issues of racism it means that's not the only time it happened to him there, he couldn't take it anymore. Men are strong but if you keep on doing this sensitive senseless acts to them their softer side will appear, and it finally did.
ReplyDeleteThat's all i can think is that he just couldn't blow it off any more.
DeleteEveryone has their breaking point.
Bless him.
I just can't understand why anyone would be so intentionally cruel, especially over a game!
Shame on them.
Horrible!!! Makes me want to cry! Bless him!
ReplyDelete90 minutes of solid taunts would be too much for the strongest person
ReplyDeleteIt's very simple, cancel any and EVERY football match wherever this kind of behaviour happens. Players should walk off the pitch immediately and clubs should be forced to pay a fine as well. The racist scum won't enjoy having their beautiful game played around with !
ReplyDeleteAnd then Serbian wants to join EU with this kind of behavior
ReplyDeleteThis is barbaric and disgusting! What an utterly horrible thing to do to another human being! I am sorry for the abuse you suffered, you certainly did not deserve it'
ReplyDeleteSerbia really seems to have a problem with racism at football matches - and seem to be a repeat offender - FIFA needs to hit their clubs and national team hard - they're 40 years behind the rest of the civilised football worlld
ReplyDelete