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Zenit St Petersburg manager Andre Villas-Boas slams Torpedo Moscow fans

Zenit's Brazilian forward Hulk celebrates after scoring the opening goal
Image: Hulk: Subject of alleged abuse from Torpedo fans

Zenit St Petersburg manager Andre Villas-Boas has slammed Torpedo Moscow fans over their alleged racist abuse of Hulk on Sunday.

The Brazil forward opened the scoring for Zenit in a 1-1 draw at the Saturn Stadion and was the target of alleged monkey noises from a section of the Torpedo support.

Former Spurs boss Villas-Boas was furious in the aftermath of the game and said: "It's a disgrace to football, it's a disgrace to the public. That's something that shouldn't happen."

It's a disgrace to football, it's a disgrace to the public. That's something that shouldn't happen.
Andre Villas-Boas

Hulk, 28, added afterwards: "What can you do in those situations than just react with a smile? If I react to the fans with respect, then maybe I'll get the same in return.

"I can only just feel sorry about what happened and call all football fans to respect the game, the players and keep everything in a good tone. Football should unite people, and not divide them up for different reasons.

"You can't understand, accept or explain those things. This isn't the first time that I've encountered something like this, but each time you just have to ask that everyone respect all of the players, again and again.

"However, in spite of similar things like this, whenever racism does show up, both me and the team try to stay focused on the game."

The news comes in the same week that anti-racism chief Jeffrey Webb unveiled plans to work alongside the Russian Federation in a bid to stamp racism out of their domestic game ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

Webb, chairman of FIFA's Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force, said: "Russia's a big challenge. They are going to start addressing it. We are going to work with them.

"When you impact the club, you impact the stadium, you impact the community," he added. "It has to start with coaches, players first in that dressing room - when that is there it spreads out."

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