Sweden midfielder Jimmy Durmaz has issued a defiant statement after being bombarded with racist abuse for the past couple of days.
The 29-year-old was responsible for giving away the freekick that Toni Kroos scored as Germany registered a 95th-minute win over the Swedes in Sochi on Saturday evening.
Almost instantaneously, Durmaz’s social media accounts were awash with vicious, spiteful comments, many – sadly, predictably – in reference to his Turkish heritage.
The following day, Durmaz (who was born and raised in Orebro) and the rest of the squad assembled in front of the media at the team’s training base in Gelendzhik to deliver an emphatic public response to the snide slurs he’s been receiving.
#BackaDurmaz pic.twitter.com/Qy1JLiCOID
— SportExpressen (@SportExpressen) June 24, 2018
Here’s the translation:
I can be criticised for my performance, but there is a line, and that line was crossed.
When you threaten me, when you call me a “blatte” (a derogatory term for a dark-skinned foreigner), an ‘Arab devil’, a ‘terrorist’, ‘Taliban’, then you have gone far beyond the limit.
Who the hell does such things? It is completely unacceptable.
I am Swedish and am proud to play for Sweden. I will never let any racists destroy that pride. We must disregard all forms of racism.
The statement ended with the entire Sweden squad shouting “F**k racism” in unison.
Hear hear. Doesn’t get much more succinct than that.
What are we coming to when a professional footballer can’t make a purely innocent error during a game without incurring the wrath of hundreds of snide, cowardly little oiks who have been skulking just out of sight, waiting for the chance to project their repugnant shite?