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List of 11 footballers who were racially abused

Following the decision of Sulley Muntari to walk off the field when he was racially abused by fans of Caglairi over the weekend, Pulse Sports has compiled some of the notable cases of racist abuse

The sport produces a lot of excitement to fans, players and managers alike.

However, it is confronted by several challenges. One of its and most persistent problems continues to be the trend of racist conduct—by players, fans, managers, pundits and others.

Now, the discourse over racism in football got reignited following Sulley Muntari, a Ghana midfielder's decision to walk off the field when he was racially abused by fans of Cagliari during an Italian Serie A game.

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Pulse Sports lists some cases of racial abuse in football.

In 1988 fans of Everton threw a banana at John Barnes to taunt him when his side Liverpool faced their neigbours in a Merseyside derby.

Former Cameroon striker, Samuel Eto'o threatened to leave the field in protest at racist abuse during Barcelona's 2-0 victory over Real Zaragoza in 2006. Barcelona won a corner kick and Eto'o who had earlier suffered from racial abuse in the game from a section of the fans went to collect the ball and to the surprise of everyone, bottles were thrown at him before a chorus of monkey chants followed.

Eto'o pointed at Alvaro, Zaragoza's black Brazilian defender, in an attempt to underline the absurdity of the abuse, but his response served merely to increase the vociferousness of the chants. Victor Jose Esquinas Torres, the referee, ran over to a club official and demanded that an announcement is made over the PA system. His point was clear: if this behaviour did not stop, the game would be abandoned.

Brazilian midfielder Everton Luiz was subjected to monkey noises and jeers throughout his side’s 1-0 away win over neighbours FK Rad in February.

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Fans persisted in the abuse despite warnings from the referee and public address announcer, at one point unveiling a banner with a racial message that was removed by stewards.

The 28-year-old Brazilian who was upset with the behaviour of the fans made a gesture with his middle finger at the conclusion of 90 minutes and it sparked little confusion among the players. But the referee restored calmness before Luiz walked off in tears.

Inaki Williams who is eligible to play for Ghana came under racial attack in August 2016 when his side Atletic Bilbao visited Sporting Gijon.

A section of the home fans made racial chants at Williams to the extent that the referee at a point stopped play for Sporting Gijon players to plead with their fans to stop the abuse at the Ghanaian-born Spanish.

Mario Balotelli and Ghana striker Kevin-Prince Boateng in 2013 were two of the three players who were a target of racial abuse by the Roma fans when AC Milan faced off against their Italian rivals.

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The play was stopped for about two minutes at the beginning of the second half after chants aimed at Milan's black players from the visiting supporters.

Roma captain Francesco Totti, who had complained to the referee about the chants, then went to speak to the fans.

The striker was one of three AC Milan players targeted during their match against Roma on Sunday, which was halted for two minutes.

Mario Balotelli threatened to walk off the pitch if he is ever again subjected to racist abuse from fans.

Patrice Evra accused Luis Suarez of repeated use of a racist slur against him in 2011 when Liverpool played against Manchester United. The FA Charged Luis Suerez of making racial comments and subsequently banned him for eight games.

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Oguchi Onyewu, an American of Nigerian descent had incidents with other players, such as Jelle Van Damme, who, according to Onyewu, repeatedly called him a "dirty ape" during the 2008–09 Championship playoff, even after Onyewu relayed the information to the referees. Van Damme denied the accusations following the match, and claimed that Onyewu had called him a "dirty Flemish".

Ghana-born German international striker Gerald Asamoah has frequently been the target of racist abuse. On 10 September 2006, Hansa Rostock were investigated for racist abuse in a friendly game and were subsequently found guilty; the team was fined $25,000.

On 11 May 2014, bananas were thrown at Milan's Kévin Constant and Nigel de Jong, both black, by Atalanta fans during their Milan's 2–1 defeat.Atalanta was later fined €40,000.

In 2014 Dani Alves was racially abused by fans of Villarreal in a game Barcelona won 3-2. They threw Banana at the Brazilian right full back. He picked up the banana and ate in response to the racial abuse.

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