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Diop the latest target

Spanish football was marred by another incident of racist abuse on Sunday when Levante midfielder Papakouli Diop was targeted with jeers by a group of Atletico Madrid supporters.

This latest incident in Spain’s first division came a week after Barcelona defender Dani Alves responded to a Villarreal fan who threw a banana at him by eating the piece of fruit before continuing to play.

Photos and video footage from the match show a section of the crowd making monkey gestures towards the player.

Diop’s answer to the monkey taunts was to do a dance, which enraged the traveling Atletico fans at Ciutat de Valencia stadium after their team had lost 2-0.

Diop, from Senegal, said: “I started to do the dance to take importance away (from the jeers). That they call black players monkeys has to end.”

A statement from Uefa read: “Uefa and its president Michel Platini strongly condemn all forms of discrimination including recent racist behaviour of fans in Spain.”

The National Basketball Association’s stance towards Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling should be seen as a starting point on how to handle racism in sport.

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