Alves eats banana thrown on pitch

Barcelona's Dani Alves reacted to having a banana thrown at him during Sunday's dramatic 3-2 win at Villarreal by peeling it and then taking a bite.

He was about to take a corner when the banana landed on the pitch.
"We have suffered this in Spain for some time," said Alves. "You have to take it with a dose of humour."

Former Barca striker Gary Lineker praised Alves. "Picked it up, peeled it, ate it and proceeded to take the corner," he tweeted. (external) "Top response."

The ex-England striker added: "Utterly brilliant reaction from Alves. Treat the racist berk with complete disdain!"
Alves' club and Brazil team-mate Neymar displayed his solidarity by eating a banana on his Instagram page, while compatriot and Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva wrote: "Congratulations on your attitude yesterday. We are together on this fight against racism."

The Spanish media (external) reported that match referee David Fernandez Borbalan made a note of the incident and that the country's football association, RFEF, will meet on Tuesday to discuss the matter.

Full-back Alves has been a regular target of racist abuse during his 12 years in Spain with both Sevilla and Barcelona.

In January 2013, the Brazil international complained of racist abuse (external) following a Copa del Rey semi-final match against Real Madrid.

"We aren't going to change things easily," he added.

Referring specifically to Sunday's incident, he said: "If you don't give it importance, they don't achieve their objective."

Alves, 30, was involved in two goals as Barca come from 2-0 down against Villarreal to win 3-2 at El Madrigal.
The win leaves them second in the table, four points behind leaders Atletico Madrid with three games remaining.
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