Barcelona’s barren draw at home against Sevilla on Saturday seems to be drawing more controversy as the days gone on. Latest news now emerging is that midfielder Cesc Fabregas racially abused Sevilla’s Malian striker Freddy Kanoute.
Apparently this happened after the Catalans were awarded a penalty in the dying minutes of the game. Obviously, the Sevilla players did not agree with the referees decision and Kanoute reacted by kicking the ball away from the spot.
This led to a melee between players from both teams which eventually led to Kanoute being sent off after he lashed out on Fabregas. It was then that the reported abuse took place.
Kanoute claims that Fabregas called him a terrorist, however, the midfielder was quick to respond on Twitter as he denied making any such comments.
“I can proudly say that after many years in football, I always maintained the best relationships with my team-mates who came from different backgrounds, races, religions and nationalities.
“No one has ever accused me of being racist or bigoted in all my years of playing in the game. “There is a simple explanation for that. I have never behaved in that manner. I share a dressing room with a Malian player [Seydou Keita], I have an Arab tattoo and my partner is Lebanese. There is no better indication that it makes no sense.” Fabregas tweeted.
On his part Kanoute posted on his Twitter account how sorry he was for actions.
“Sorry for what happened yesterday. It was not a good example. Nonetheless there was provocation and insult, as you are already aware.
“But don’t think about it anymore. His behaviour, like mine, was bad. Issue closed. Let’s get on with the football.”
A later statement from Fabregas showed that the feeling was mutual. “I talked by phone with Kanoute and we’ve clarified what happened yesterday. We both apologized and closed the matter.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona prepare to face Granada tonight in a match that many pundits are predicting to be a walk in the park for the Blaugrana at least on paper. However, much is being made about Messi’s penalty miss on Saturday.
Barca coach Pep Guardiola has however come out defending his star player saying that Messi is fine and there is no cause for worry. “Messi is fine,” Guardiola said.
“He is recovering from the big effort he put in on Saturday. He knows it [the miss] is part of the game, but he won’t let it affect him – there’s no time.”
Considering the Plethora of talent Barcelona possess, it would be shocking if the champions failed to win this fixture.
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