By Andrew Warshaw
April 29- Fifa President Sepp Blatter has condemned the recent case of racism aimed at Barcelona’s Brazilian defender Dani Alves as an “outrage” and has re-iterated that a policy of zero tolerance will be implemented at this summer’s World Cup.
During Barca’s trip to Villarreal on Sunday, a spectator threw a banana at Alves just as he was about to take a corner. He laughed off the incident by taking a quick bite before carrying on playing but later made his feelings known by saying he had become used to such abuse.
Villarreal have announced that they have identified the culprit and banned him for life but Blatter took to his Twitter account. “What Dani Alves tolerated last night is an outrage. We must fight all forms of discrimination. Will be zero tolerance at World Cup,” he wrote.
In a further statement Fifa said it was “sad to see such racist incidents continue to occur in football.” It added: “There should be no room for racism in football but several recent incidents show that the fight is not over.”
Alves has receiving an outpouring of support from fellow players and Barcelona have applauded Villarreal for their reaction: “We accept that the perpetrators of these insults are in no way connected to Villarreal and we value very positively the support the club offered to our player,” the club said in a statement.
“The club’s immediate condemnation of the incidents is a step in the right direction to firstly isolate and then eradicate completely from the sporting arena this kind of behaviour.”