Eto’o, Ronaldo and Alves… former victims of racism in Spain

The repeated racist insults to Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior awakened bad memories in Spanish football, which left black stations in the past four decades, most notably the Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o and the Brazilians Ronaldo and Dani Alves.

Real Madrid striker, Brazilian player Vinicius Junior, received repeated racist abuse from fans while playing with Valencia hospitality on Sunday. Vinicius faced the fans who attacked him, and the match stopped for ten minutes, then he clashed with Valencia players and was sent off in the second half, and Real lost 1-0 at the Mestalla stadium.

Thomas Nkono and the insults of Camp Nou

Despite his stardom in Cameroon, Thomas Nkono was little known when he arrived at Espanyol Barcelona in 1982. The giant goalkeeper was the victim of racist abuse and bananas being thrown at the Camp Nou during the derby against Barcelona.

And he recounted in an interview with “El Confidencial”: “The funny thing is that a section of the stadium was calling me all descriptions, while the other section was blowing its whistles to stop them. I always dealt with it as a challenge.”

Hiddink and the Nazi Flag

During the warm-up before the Valencia-Albacete match in 1992, Dutch senior coach Guus Hiddink noticed a Nazi flag hanging on the Albacete fans’ stand.

He demanded that an employee of the club remove it, threatening not to play the match if the flag remained hanging. “When I see this kind of thing, I can’t remain silent,” said the Dutch coach.

Kamini shouts monkeys

Driss Kameni, Nkono’s countryman and successor at Espanyol, was the victim of monkey boos from some Real Zaragoza fans in 2004.

The goalkeeper commented to radio “Cadena Ser” in 2017, “It was my worst moment. We were leading 1-0, and they described me with all the adjectives. The referee even asked me if I was able to continue playing. I was mentally shocked, but I succeeded in continuing to play.”

And it wasn’t his only incident: five months later, Kameni fell victim to banana throwing in Atletico Madrid’s stadium. He revealed to “Movistar” channel in 2020, “When a person experiences a similar event, he can return to his home and commit suicide. No one can imagine what I lived through.”

Ronaldo and a bottle of water

In March 2005, Brazilian striker Ronaldo threw a water bottle on the stands of the Malaga team, after he was subjected to racist chants during his participation with his Real Madrid team.

A few days earlier, in the same stadium, the Costa Rican striker Paulo Watchop hit a fan of his team who shouted monkey sounds.

– Eto’o “I will never play again”

The five years spent by Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o in the ranks of Barcelona (2004-2009) were punctuated by racist incidents, such as the striker throwing the ball towards Getafe fans in 2004 after falling victim to monkey shouts.

Two weeks later against Albacete, he signed again with a healthy shout. In 2005, he celebrated after being recorded by imitating monkeys.
In 2006, Eto’o decided to leave the match in Zaragoza, when he was preparing to take a corner kick.

He told the referee, “No khuego mas!” (I will not play again), while the latter was trying to persuade him to respond and stay on the green rectangle. After several people interfered, Eto’o returned and the match resumed. A few days later, the Spanish Federation punished Zaragoza with a fine of 9,000 euros.

Elvish and banana

In April 2014, Barcelona’s Brazilian full-back Dani Alves experienced a similar incident at Villarreal. Before taking a corner, a banana was thrown at him. He decided to peel and gnaw at it as a response to the insult, before continuing to play as if nothing had happened. Villarreal was fined 12 thousand euros, and the club decided to close the platform in question for a match in front of its fans.

“We’re all Williams”

In 2020, Athletic Bilbao striker Iñaki Williams fell victim to monkey sounds when substituted at Barcelona’s Espanyol Stadium. The Ghanaian faced it previously in Gijon in 2016 when the referee stopped the match for a few minutes.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned these actions, telling the newspaper “Marca”: “We are all Williams: racism, that’s enough.” Two Espanyol fans have been sued.

The list of players victims of racism includes names such as Neco Williams, Guinean Mokhtar Diakhaby, Malian Frederic Kanoute, Ivorian Yahya Toure, and Colombian Jefferson Lerma.