BLACKBURN Rovers striker Benni McCarthy has spoken for the first time about the racial abuse he suffered during Blackburn's UEFA Cup tie with Wisla Krakow earlier this season.
The South African alleged that Wisla defender Nikola Mijailovic racially abused him during the group E tie in October and, following a thorough investigation, UEFA banned the Serbian for five-matches as a result.
Now McCarthy has broken his silence over the incident, saying he hopes the example UEFA made of Mijailovic will help the fight to kick racism out of the game.
The 29-year-old said: "Every club and every league is against racism, and football is trying hard to fight against it, but you still get people - players, coaches or fans - who will use offensive terms.
"Sport should unite people, not divide them, so I am glad an example was set.
"Maybe the next person who is considering using a racist term during a match will think twice.
"I hope this is the last issue of racism that UEFA has to deal with.
"It's one of the only bad things affecting the greatest game in the world."
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