ABC compared the young talent to a ‘black street vendor’
FC Barcelona are taking legal action against journalist Salvador Sostres and daily newspaper ABC in response to racist remarks published after their Champions League victory over Hungarian side Ferencvaros.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Sostres later apologised due to the anger of his comments, saying he regrets “the misunderstanding” of what he said.
In his match report, Sostres compared 17-year-old striker Ansu Fati to a “black street vendor”.
“Ansu was close to scoring with a kick of a pure striker, perfectly turning his body,” his report read.
“Ansu when running has something similar to a gazelle, he looks like a young and black street vendor, the one you could see running in the Paseo de Gracia shouting ‘water, water’ when the policemen arrive.
“Postcards of a jungle in the heart of the city. Now it doesn’t happen anymore because of Ada Colau [mayor of Barcelona], the delinquents are the policemen and not the street sellers, who don’t need to run away quickly anymore.
“It is true that without tourists, their business goes down.”
The first to denounce the language used was Fati’s teammate Antoine Griezmann, who criticised ABC and Sostres on Twitter.
“Ansu is an exceptional boy who deserves respect like any human being. No to racism and no to rudeness,” he said.
Ansu es un chico excepcional que merece respeto como cualquier ser humano. No al racismo y no a la mala educación. pic.twitter.com/LZuJOzoTMG
— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) October 21, 2020
His sentiments were echoed by pundit and former Barcelona striker Gary Lineker, who quoted the tweet saying “Exactly.”
Exactamente. https://t.co/KCvfbJ3CXK
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) October 21, 2020
