Tottenham and the Premier League condemn Richarlison racist abuse

Tottenham Hotspur have condemned the ‘disgusting’ racist abuse of Richarlison after a banana was thrown at him from the stands during Brazil’s international against Tunisia.

The forward was celebrating having put Brazil 2-1 ahead in the friendly at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday night when several objects were thrown at him, including one which was clearly a banana.

Footage showed the Manchester United midfielder Fred kicking the banana away as Brazil’s players celebrated with Richarlison.

Spurs offered their support to their player in a tweet that read: ‘We are disgusted by the racist abuse of Richarlison at last night’s game between Brazil and Tunisia.

‘This has no place in football, or anywhere. We stand with you, Richy.’

The Tottenham forward had just scored his seventh goal in six matches for Brazil this year

The Premier League also condemned the abuse, tweeting: ‘There is no room for racism anywhere. We all need to tackle discrimination together.

‘Challenge it. Report it. Change it.’

FIFA has confirmed it will investigate. World football’s governing body said in a statement that it ‘strongly rejects any form of racism and violence and has a very clear zero tolerance stance against such behaviour’. 

Richarlison was infuriated by the incident in a match Brazil went on to win 5-1 and took to social media to challenge the authorities to take the issue of racism seriously.

‘As long as [the authorities] stay ‘blah blah blah’ and don’t punish, it will continue like this, happening every day and everywhere,’ he wrote.

The forward also retweeted a series of messages of support he had received from clubs in Brazil, including Atletico Mineiro, Fluminense and America.

Richarlison’s club Tottenham condemned the ‘disgusting’ racist abuse of the Brazilian

The Premier League also spoke out against the incident in Paris on Tuesday evening

Prior to the game, five-time world champions Brazil team had posed for photographs with an anti-racism banner which read, ‘Without our black players, we wouldn’t have stars on our shirts’.

The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) later issued a statement on the Richarlison incident via Twitter.

It read: ‘Unfortunately a banana was thrown on the pitch towards Richarlison, scorer of the second Brazilian goal.

‘The CBF reinforces its position to combat racism and repudiates any manifestation of prejudice.’

Richarlison celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal in the 5-1 win over Tunisia

Neymar netted a penalty to move closer to becoming Brazil’s all-time record goalscorer

CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues added: ‘Once again, I come publicly to express my rejection. This time I saw it with my own eyes. This shocks us. We must always remember that we are all the same, regardless of colour, race or religion.

‘The fight against racism is not a cause, but a fundamental (battle for) change to wipe this type of crime from the planet. I insist on saying that the punishments need to be more severe.’

Richarlison’s goal had put Brazil back ahead after Montassar Talbi cancelled out Raphinha’s opener.

Neymar added a penalty, Raphinha claimed his second and Pedro wrapped up the scoring after Tunisia had Dylan Bronn sent off.