Arouca
Marcos Arouca (R) of Brazil's Santos battles for the ball with Adolfo Rosinei of Mexico's America during their Copa Libertadores soccer match at Corregidora stadium in Queretaro, Mexico May 3, 2011. Reuters

Marcos Arouca, Santos midfielder, as he was speaking to reporters on Thursday when his team won 5-2 in the Sao Paulo state championship was racially abused by fans. He was being interviewed after the game and some fans were calling him a monkey.

”It’s better to block that out, better not to listen to these people, if you can actually call them people,” said Arouca. ”It’s hard to talk about what is happening these days. It’s tough, but we know it happens, not only in soccer. I just hope someone can do something serious about it because it’s lamentable.” The coach commented on the insults and said ”We can’t let something like this happen, especially with the World Cup just around the corner. These people need to be punished.”

A referee commented and said that “fans called him a monkey and told him to return to the jungle.” Also, his car was vandalized. It’s a shame that players in this day and age are still attacked by fans. Let us hope this doesn’t happen again.

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