They threw a banana at Wendel: Volga is looking for the culprit, and Semak says that in Europe “the same thing.” Incident from Ulyanovsk

Zenit dealt with Volga without any problems (3:0) and reached the second stage of the 1/4 Cup finals. In the 33rd minute, Bakaev successfully closed Vendel’s pass, the guests scored two more goals closer to the end: in the 78th minute, Cassierra turned his head after a corner, and in the 91st, Sergeev accurately shot from the goalkeeper’s area. But the main thing is not this. 

Fans in Ulyanovsk frolicked throughout the match: for example, they threw snowballs on the field, and before the third goal they crossed the line.

As Wendel was leaving the field, a banana flew in.

The banana was launched quite strongly, it flew right onto the field, from there someone threw it out of bounds. This did not get into the broadcast frame, it was already visible only how the banana was thrown to the curb.

Passing by, Wendel kicked this banana.

“Such an attitude on the part of Volga fans is a shame. The backward mentality of some idiots who spoil the football holiday, ”the player’s agent Thiago Ribeiro told the Championship. And he added that Wendel would never receive a Russian passport, as Malcolm and Claudinho did .

According to RBC journalist Grant Getadaryan, the inspector of the meeting entered the incident into the protocol. So the consequences are quite likely. According to Match TV, the incident will be considered at a meeting of the control disciplinary committee after receiving the report of the match commissioner.

MyselfWendel posted a video of the moment in the evening of the same day, wrote “In hell with them”and added emoji – 🖕🏾🖕🏾🖕🏾🖕🏾.

What threatens the Volga?

According to the regulations, for racially degrading a person, the club at fault is punished by one or more of these penalties:

• fine

• a ban on the admission of spectators to the sectors of the stadium from one to three matches

• holding without spectators from one to three matches

• removal of three points.

The club is looking for the culprit, the RPL hopes for “the most severe punishment”, and Semak urges not to escalate

Zenit head coach Sergei Semak said after the match that he does not attach any importance to what happened in Ulyanovsk.

“I saw that the banana was lying. Fans and snowballs threw – apparently, everything that was at hand.If you look at the European Championships, it’s the same there. You watch the championship of France, there is a player who approaches the corner, everything that the fans have in their hands flies at him. Someone threw something, picked it up, threw it away.

I didn’t hear any screams if you are trying to deduce this to racist manifestations. I don’t think that the atmosphere was such that there were some insulting cries addressed to the players. I heard a bit of swearing against the coach. As for the players, no, their fans protected and respected, ”Match TV quotes Semak.

The club from Ulyanovsk said it was “studying the episode”.

“I think we will definitely find the culprit. After that I will give all the explanations. We tried to play the match at the highest level, a lot has been done for this, ”Match TV quotes Volga General Director Mikhail Navolokin.

It follows from this that it was not possible to detain the fan immediately at the stadium.

True, what consequences threaten the fan is a question. 12 years ago, a fan who threw a banana at Roberto Carlos got off with an apology video recorded at the police station.

“We recorded his video message to Roberto Carlos and the management of football clubs with apologies. His actions do not even fit under the article “Hooliganism”. It is necessary to change the legislation,” said then the head of the press service of the Samara police department Sergei Goldstein.

RPL condemned Ulyanovsk racism and called for severe punishment: “We hope for a speedy consideration of the incident by the competent authorities, including the RFU FTC, and the imposition of the most severe punishment on the perpetrators and those who committed this offense.”

Samara case brought Roberto Carlos to tears

Interestingly, the last time the top club visited Ulyanovsk was in 2011: then Anji with Roberto Carlos also defeated the hosts 3-0 without any problems.

And the main scandal of that Anji was connected with the banana thrown at the Brazilian legend. In Samara, everything happened according to the same scenario: Anji confidently finished the match with a score of 3:0, when Roberto Carlos was hit from the stands. Unlike Wendel, he did not hold back: he threw a banana out of the field, got very upset and defiantly left the field.