Ronaldinho for end to racial abuse

“I would have gone with Eto’o after hearing the insults he received throughout the game,” Ronaldinho told reporters. “This kind of thing cannot continue. We have to try and abolish these things from football pitches.”

“I tried to calm him down and told him that he was bigger than the people who were insulting him. We hope that actions like those of Samuel’s mean these kinds of incidents won’t happen again,” he said.

After the game, which Barca won 2-0 to go nine points clear at the top of the table, referee Victor Esquinas Torres detailed the incidents in his match report which was posted on the Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) official website.

“In the 76th minute, when Eto’o went to take a corner, the crowd behind the goal started to chant repetitively Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh!; clearly imitating the sound of a monkey,” said Esquinas Torres.

“I stopped the game for two minutes to ask the club to make an announcement over the PA system to ask the crowd to stop making these sounds that were in my opinion clearly racist.

“But despite this announcement the same kinds of sounds were heard from various sections of the crowd throughout the rest of the game every time Eto’o went to dispute the ball. The same occurred at the end of the game from the crowd at the side of the pitch when Eto’o went to leave the pitch,” he added.