‘At school I was only black kid’
BERNARDO ON BRAZIL RACISM
BRIGHTON’S Brazilian ace Bernardo says he has been racially abused – but only in his own country.
Since moving to Austria in 2016 and then Germany, before a £9million switch to the Premier League, he says life is good and admires the diversity in European society. The defender, 23, spoke at the end of a week in which racism reared its ugly head once more with an alleged verbal attack on Raheem Sterling at Chelsea last Saturday. Bernardo takes on the Blues today but on this occasion at home – although it would not have worried him playing at Stamford Bridge. He said: “Until I know the full details about that situation I can’t comment but I can from my experiences in Brazil and Europe.
“In my school I was the only black guy. It bothered me. My father was an international footballer and my mother a journalist and they could afford to pay for my education. Most people in Brazil do not have that.
“In school I was with the rich kids. In training I was with the poor kids.
“In football the world’s best player, Pele, was black and there are so many black players.
“That is the nice thing about sport. In sport I have found they do not judge you for your colour or how much money you have, like they did when I was home.
“Once you are on the pitch it is different.
“I came across more prejudice in Brazil but not in Austria, Germany and now England. I can’t complain. If you look at Brazil from outside it looks mixed country – the blacks, the whites and other races – but we were one of the last countries to quit slavery.”
Bernado is particularly struck by the diversity he sees on the streets of his new nation’s captial.
He added: “When I go to London I think it is very, very nice. You see people from the most different cultures living together.
“Go into a good restaurant or see a nice car and you see Asians, Arabians, whites eating and driving. They are all the same.
“In Brazil, no. If you go to a nice restaurant you rarely see a black person.”
Some familiar faces will be lining up against him today, and Bernardo can’t wait.
He said: “Chelsea is a big challenge. That is why I wanted to come to England, to play against the likes of my countrymen David Luis, Willian and Jorginho.”