Banana thrown at Brazilian players in soccer friendly in Paris
MADRID (AP) — Four of Brazil’s most recognizable and recognizable clubs were scheduled to play a friendly in Paris Sunday but only one got off the field.
Brazilian players were shown a series of videos in which a banana was thrown at them while they were on the field during the group match for the South American Olympic football tournament against Argentina.
The South American side was playing against a team of elite players for the second straight year in the tournament.
The videos of the game in which the banana was thrown were posted to YouTube Monday by the Brazil Times, which has been tracking the tournament since it was first held in 2010.
The footage was taken at the home of Barcelona’s coach, Pep Guardiola, and shows a group of Brazilian players including Ronaldo, Neymar and Miranda competing against a team of Argentine players.
A spokesperson for the league told the AP the videos were not part of the official program because the league could not be involved in football-related issues. The spokesperson said it was a team-building activity.
But that didn’t stop one of Brazil’s biggest newspapers from running the shots and running with the story. A few hours later, Brazilian soccer federation confirmed the videos were authentic.
Brazilian newspaper O Globo published the videos on its website but removed them in the middle of Monday. The paper said on Twitter the action was a planned protest against what it called “a disrespectful act” by the Brazilians.
The images also appeared on the online news site BolaCidade.com. The site of a rival group of newspapers was forced offline last month after a soccer star was shown on video shouting racist and anti-gay slurs.
In a series of tweets, Brazilian captain Neymar, whose personal video channel is one of Brazil’s most popular, told his millions of followers that he was not offended by what was shown in the videos.
Brazilian television broadcaster Globo also ran the clip but said it had been removed from a planned presentation of the tournament’s opening match between Argentina and Senegal in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. A statement on the station’s website said the video had been shown because it was “a work of satire.”
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Sanchez reported from Paris. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell contributed