Moussa Marega
Racist abuse sees striker clash with team-mates
Just when it looked as if progress was being made in tackling racism in the game, the case of Porto’s Malian striker Moussa Marega brought European football crashing back to reality.
Marega walked off midway through his side’s Portuguese league win at Vitoria Guimaraes, protesting that he had been subjected to racist abuse from the home side’s supporters. He began to head towards the dugouts in the 69th minute, nine minutes after scoring what would prove to be the winner in a 2-1 victory that closed the gap on leaders Benfica.
Marega had celebrated his goal by pointing to his skin in response to a section of fans who had been targetting him. To make matters worse, he was shown a yellow card for his reaction.
As he tried to leave the pitch he pointed his thumbs down and also raised his middle fingers to the crowd.
Team-mates Alex Telles, Sergio Oliveira and Ivan Marcano were among those who tried to stop Marega leaving the pitch, grabbing him around the waist as the arguments ensued for a number of minutes.
Porto coach Sergio Conceicao was eventually forced to substitute Marega in the 72nd minute.
Afterwards, in an Instagram post, Marega said: “I would just like to tell these idiots who come to the stadium to make racist chants, go f*** yourself. 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.” Conceicao said: “We are completely indignant. 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 about what happened. I know the passion that exists for Vitoria and I think most of the fans do not see themselves in the same attitude of some people who have insulted Moussa since the warm-up.”
The Portuguese Football Federation denied that a fine of just over €700 handed to Vitoria Guimaraes was for racist chants directed at Marega. News of the small fine sparked outrage on social media, with Marega commenting sarcastically, again on Instagram: “Oh no, that’s a lot! Can I pay it for them Portuguese league?”
It was Marega’s successful loan spell at Guimaraes in 2016-17, when he scored 15 goals in 25 games, that convinced Porto to persevere with a player who had joined them from Maritimo in January 2016 but struggled to adapt to life at a major club.
Following his loan spell at Guimaraes, Marega returned to Porto and has since become a key figure under Conceicao.