Moussa Marega, a Porto player, left the field because he was the victim of racist insults. For Virginie Phulpin, the referee and his teammates should have supported him.
If we really want to fight racism in football, we will have to move up a gear. This must be one of the lessons of this sad evening in Portugal. For the first time, a player therefore left the field because he could no longer bear the racist insults of which he was the victim. Already, we can salute the courage of Moussa Marega. We have heard many fine words against racism, but he went to the end of his ideas.
We will come back to what happened. It was a Portuguese championship match. FC Porto de Moussa Marega faced Vitoria Guimaraes. Throughout the match, the striker heard chants, racist insults and monkey cries coming from the stands. At the hour, he scored, giving his team a 2-1 advantage. He approached the opposing stands to celebrate his goal. Supporters have found nothing smarter than throwing him a seat in the stands. Exasperated, Moussa Marega raised this seat. The referee's reaction: yellow card. So okay, it's in the regulations. But at some point it may be necessary to lift the head of this regulation and understand the situation as a whole. Punishing a player victim of racist attacks, is that really what is expected of a referee?
10 minutes later, Moussa Marega can't take it anymore. He wants to leave the field. And what do his teammates do? They hold it back. The attacker ends up going out anyway and his coach replaces him. Phew, they avoided the scandal and the lost points.
For Virginie Phulpin, her team should have supported Moussa Marega.
Can you imagine the message you are sending while trying to retain it? Come on, it's not that bad, racist insults, we still have a match to win. Sorry ? So Virginie Phulpin addresses the players "if one of your teammates is a victim of racism, support him! Your moral duty is to leave the field with him, not to try to retain him so as not to lose the match. Otherwise it will start again. " It is only by stopping the show that the racists in the stands will be punished. They can't understand otherwise, you shouldn't ask them too much, you know. So the Porto coach may say after the match that the attitude of the racist supporters is unacceptable, it is a little late and a little weak as a reaction.
The gesture of Moussa Marega must make think the other players, the referees, and the authorities of football. Let's stop with the slogans "say no to racism" and follow the example of the Malian striker if we want to make things happen. His reaction must be the starting point for a profound change.