Tottenham Hotspur and Brazil forward Richarlison was subject to a racist attack during a match against Tunisia on Tuesday.
A banana was thrown at the Premier League star in the 19th minute when he ran towards the corner flag to celebrate scoring Brazil’s second in a 5-1 win in Paris.
Translated from Portuguese, Richarlison took to Twitter after the match, writing: “As long as they stay ‘blah blah blah’ and don’t punish, it’s going to continue like this, happening every day and everywhere. No time bro!”
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
As you can expect, the 25-year-old has received plenty of messages of support since the racist attack. Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand also called on football’s authorities to do more to tackle racism.
Ferdinand told his FIVE YouTube channel: “I’m not saying football can change or cure racism because I would be an idiot to think that.
“Football can play a good part in highlighting issues and standing together, standing strong and standing unified to make the authorities and powers that be put things in place to protect people, but it ain’t happening. It’s disheartening.
“You’ve got your own kids waking up and saying: ‘Dad, have you seen that banana thrown on the pitch at Richarlison?’ It’s madness.
“There was probably as much vitriol and hysteria on social media and in the media in general as there were with this banana incident, racism incident, as there was when Richarlison was doing kick-ups when he got smashed. Let that sink in. It is mad and crazy.”
He added: “Another day racism is OK and welcomed in football. Look at the reaction to the stuff with Vinicius Jr. I don’t see the federations coming out and absolutely backing these players and going absolutely against it or a big press conference being called and saying ‘we ain’t having this’.”
Richarlison has since replied to Ferdinand with a tweet which read: “Thanks for your support Rio! It is unacceptable, even with so many campaigns and information available, that it still happens. It will only change when these ‘people’ are punished for real…. Until then it’s a losing game, bro!”
Thanks for your support Rio! ❤️ It is unacceptable, even with so many campaigns and information available, that it still happens. It will only change when these "people" are punished for real… Until then it's a losing game, bro!
— Richarlison Andrade (@richarlison97) September 28, 2022
We have said it countless times that this form of behaviour is unacceptable, but it is deep-rooted within society and tackling such issues will take a lot more than campaigns approved by football’s governing bodies.
We would also like send our support to the Tottenham striker.
