February 20 – No sooner had Serbia’s top flight resumed at the weekend after a two-month winter break than the same familiar racism-fuelled trouble re-occurred, with Rad Belgrade’s match against visiting city rivals Partizan marred by a player brawl.
Partizan’s Brazilian midfielder Everton Luiz was subjected to monkey chants from Rad fans throughout the match and made an obscene gesture after the final whistle, prompting the home team’s players to confront him.
A full scale brawl broke out before staff from both sides eventually managed to separate the players.
Partizan coach Marko Nikolic said Everton was likely to face disciplinary action from the club but urged Serbia’s football authorities to also punish Rad’s supporters.
“Everton should not have reacted but something provoked his outburst, didn’t it?”, said Nikolic, who was sacked by Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana last April for racially abusing one of his own players.
“Both sides in the incident should be punished. These things happen in football but it is now up to the authorities to sanction the offenders.”
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