"Matic, you Serbian" - monkey screams and bananas thrown on the pitch: Racist scandal in Croatian football

Ugly scenes in Zadar

A huge racist scandal was seen in Croatia during a friendly match between Zadar and Sibenik, when Colombian footballer Marcos Mina was targeted by local fans, who yelled at him imitating monkey sounds and threw bananas on the pitch, as well as a glass bottle.

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Because of that incident, the match was interrupted, while Sibenik player Tin Matic was also targeted by Zadar fans, who were chanted, "Matic, you Serbian."

As a result, the match was stopped, the players retired to the dressing rooms, and the clubs issued statements afterwards.

"On behalf of all the people of Zadar, I hereby apologize to Sibenik and Marcos Mina for this shameful outburst on the part of the spectators. I must stress that these are not our fans and that this kind of behavior has no place in sports. I strongly condemn and am disgusted by this act and we will do everything necessary to find the perpetrators of this incident," said the president of the Zadar club Iva Bokanovic.

Sibenik, that competes in the top tier of Croatian football, explained in a statement what happened.

"From minute one, the spectators who attended the game started insulting the player of HNK Sibenik on national basis, shouting, quote, 'Matic, you Serbian'. This was followed by insulting and belittling HNK Sibenik player Marcos Mina on racial grounds, making derogatory noises (yelling) at him, that culminated in bananas and finally a glass bottle thrown at the player on the pitch, in the middle of which the game was stopped at the 65th minute by the referee. We expect an immediate reaction from the management of Zadar FC regarding the unpleasant events and the measures they will take to ensure that such scenes never happen again in football stadiums," the Zadar statement concluded.

(Telegraf.rs)