Racism in football: FC Porto's Moussa Marega the latest victim of racial abuse

Image credits: SI.com
Image credits: SI.com

FC Porto recorded their 17th win of the Portuguese Primeira Liga season against Vitoria de Guimarães on Sunday with a 2-1 away win taking them only one point behind league leaders Benfica. But their victory was overshadowed by the demons of racial abuse with Porto's Malian striker Moussa Marega being the subject of abuse this time at The Estádio D. Afonso.

Marega, 28, started walking towards the dugout on 69th minute of the match after being subjected to racial abuse from the stands by Vitoria supporters, nine minutes after scoring the eventual winner of the contest.

Teammates Alex Telles, Sergio Oliveira, and Ivan Marcano, as well as the Vitória players, tried to stop Marega from leaving the field of play, but Marega pushed them aside and continued to walk off the pitch and went down the tunnel.

The Malian striker later took to Instagram to comment on the incident and condemned the "idiots who come to the stadium to make racist chants."

Marega previously played for Vitória, when he spent the 2016-17 on loan, scoring 15 times in 25 outings for the club.

Porto boss Sergio Conceicao was quoted saying:

"We are a family regardless of nationality, skin colour, hair colour. We are human, we deserve respect. What happened here is unfortunate."

"We are completely indignant about what happened. I know the passion that exists for Vitoria and I think most of the fans do not see themselves in the same attitude of some people who have insulted Moussa since the warm-up."

It is, without doubt, one of the most shameful events on a football pitch as the official Porto website wrote on their website in the match report describing it as "a sad situation that should make the Guimaraes club and Portuguese football blush with shame".

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