Mueez Ajao
– A banana was thrown from the crowd at Brazil players celebrating a goal from forward Richarlison in the side’s 5-1 friendly win over Tunisia in Paris on Tuesday.
– Tottenham Hotspur forward Richarlison, who was celebrating scoring Brazil’s second goal of the game, said racism will continue “every day and everywhere” if it goes unpunished.
– “As long as it’s ‘blah blah blah’ and they don’t punish, it will continue like this, happening every day and everywhere. No time bro!” Richarlison said in a Twitter post after the match.
Enquanto ficarem de "blá blá blá" e não punirem, vai continuar assim, acontecendo todos os dias e por todos os cantos. Sem tempo, irmão! #racismonão pic.twitter.com/p8GqMPqUKa
— Richarlison Andrade (@richarlison97) September 28, 2022
Also Read: Richarlison braces Brazil past Ghana in friendly
– Brazil striker Rodrigo said the side are “accustomed” to dealing with racist incidents and called for the abuse to stop.
– “We are accustomed, it always happens with our national team,” Rodrigo told Spanish radio station COPE. “It needs to stop.”
– FIFA announced on Wednesday it would investigate the incident.
– It said in a statement: “First and foremost, FIFA strongly rejects any form of racism and violence and has a very clear zero tolerance stance against such behaviour in football.
– “FIFA will investigate the incident in yesterday’s game in Paris.”
– The Brazilian football federation also condemned the incident and reinforced its stance to “fight against racism,” while the federation’s president, Ednaldo Rodrigues, said he was shocked with what happened.
– “The punishment for these actions needs to be more severe,” Rodrigues said.
– The team posed with an anti-racism banner before kick-off, weeks after Vinicius Junior, who plays for Real Madrid, was subjected to racism by Atletico Madrid fans before the teams’ derby match on Sept. 18.
– “Without our black players, we wouldn’t have stars on our shirts,” the banner read.
– The game was also briefly paused on two occasions as the crowd were implored not to point laser pens at Brazil players.
– The win over Tunisia was Brazil’s final game ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where they will face Serbia, Cameroon and Switzerland in Group G.
