A furious Moussa Marega had to be restrained by his Porto team-mates as he tried to leave the pitch in protest over alleged racial abuse from Vitoria de Guimaraes supporters during their Primeira Liga clash on Sunday.
The 28-year-old demanded he was substituted in the 69th minute of the game in reaction to chanting towards from the stands, which he had endured since the warm-up.
A clearly distraught Marega made his way towards the touchline, gesturing with two thumbs down towards the Vitoria fans.
Moments earlier the Mali striker had celebrated putting Porto 2-1 in front by pointing towards his skin, with a chair thrown from the stands in his direction as he hugged his teammates by the touchline.
With the abuse seemingly continuing, Marega decided he had endured enough and attempted to make his way off the field.
Teammates, Vitoria players and coach Porto coach Sergio Conceicao appeared to try and convince an emotional Marega not walk off the pitch.
Diz não ao racismo#FCPorto pic.twitter.com/406PWhAMyw
— FC Porto (@FCPorto) February 16, 2020
The incident went on for more than three minutes before Marega was eventually allowed to come off and be replaced by Wilson Manafa.
The striker continued to angrily gesture towards the Vitoria fans as he headed down the tunnel flanked by members of Porto’s backroom team.
Marega is a former Vitoria player, having scored 14 goals in 31 appearances during a loan spell at the club during the 2016-17 season.
Writing on Instagram after the game, he said said: “I would just like to tell these idiots who come to the stadium to make racist chants, go f*** yourself.
“And I also thank the referees for not defending me and for giving me a yellow card because I defend my skin colour. I hope I never see you on a football field again. You are a disgrace!”
Porto also made their feelings clear after the game by posting an anti-racism message on its Twitter account, with coach Conceicao saying everyone at the club was fully behind Marega.
“We are a family regardless of nationality, skin colour, hair colour. We are human, we deserve respect. What happened here is unfortunate,” he said.
“We are completely indignant with what happened. I know the passion that exists for Vitoria and I think that most of the fans do not see themselves (as having the same) attitude of some people who insulted Moussa since the warm-up”
Be the first to comment