Football

Porto star Moussa Marega walks off pitch after suffering alleged racist abuse


A distressed Marega hit back at the crowd (Picture: EPA)

Moussa Marega has spoken out after he was forced to walk off the pitch during Porto’s 2-1 win over Vitoria Guimaraes amid alleged racist abuse.

The 28-year-old said he suffered racist abuse throughout the game before scoring what would prove to be the winner in the 60th minute.

Marega celebrated by pointing to his skin and in response Vitoria fans threw seats at the striker.

But just nine minutes later Marega began to walk towards the tunnel, signaling he had had enough of the abuse from the crowd.

Marega put his thumbs down towards the supporters, while his team-mates, opponents and coaches tried to stop him walking off the pitch.

Porto stars Alex Telles, Sergio Oliveira and Ivan Marcano all tried to physically stop Marega from leaving before Porto eventually decided to substitute him.

A visibly distressed Marega was ushered down the tunnel, but not before he aimed two middle fingers at the crowd, who booed through-out the ugly scenes.

Telles was one of the Porto players trying to stop Marega reacting (Picture: Getty)
Marega had scored Porto’s winner (Picture: Getty)

After the game, Marega said on social media: ‘I would just like to tell these idiots who come to the stadium to make racist chants, go f*** yourselves.

‘I hope I never see you on a football field again. You are a disgrace!

‘And I also thank the referees for not defending me and for giving me a yellow card because I defend my skin colour.’

Porto coach Conceicao also held onto Marega (Picture: EPA)
Marega could not be stopped from walking off in protest (Picture: EPA)

Porto coach Sergio Conceicao slammed the abuse after the game and admitted Marega had been targeted since the warm-up before the match.

He said: ‘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 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.’

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Racism has become a serious issue in football in recent years, with Raheem Sterling becoming a central figure in the fight to foster safe working environments for players.

There have been ugly scenes across European football and a host of fans have been banned from Premier League stadiums for racist behaviour, chants and acts.

Over the weekend, the BBC confirmed it would no longer be working with Craig Ramage after the pundit said on air Derby County’s ‘young black lads’ needed ‘bringing down a peg or two.’

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