Levante's Diop responds to racist jeers with dance

Levante's Diop responds to racist jeers with dance


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VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Spanish soccer was marred by more racist abuse Sunday when Levante midfielder Papakouly 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 fruit before continuing to play.

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 lost 2-0.

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

Atletico captain Gabi Fernandez said apologized to Diop.

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