Palmeiras president says he will request Cerro Porteño's exclusion from the U-20 Libertadores Cup after racism incident.
"We will go to the very end," said Leila Pereira.
247 - During the press conference presenting Vitor Roque, Palmeiras president Leila Pereira addressed the serious racism incident that occurred yesterday in the match against Cerro Porteño for the U-20 Copa Libertadores, when striker Luighi was the target of racist insults from a Paraguayan fan. Leila stated that Palmeiras will take all possible measures to ensure that the Paraguayan club is severely punished, including requesting its exclusion from the competition. This information comes from the newspaper... The Globe.
“We will go to the highest courts to ensure that Cerro Porteño and the racists and criminals are punished in an exemplary manner. We will request the exclusion of Cerro Porteño from the competition because it is not the first time that this club has attacked our athletes and our fans. In 2022, Cerro fans imitated monkeys towards our fans and absolutely nothing happened. In 2023, our athletes were called monkeys again and Bruno Tabata was punished for retaliating against the aggression,” stated Leila, highlighting the history of recurring racist attitudes on the part of fans of the Paraguayan club.
The president also harshly criticized CONMEBOL's stance regarding these incidents. According to Leila, the South American confederation has been "negligent" in relation to these cases. "This punishment we are considering is for the Cerro Porteño club; it's with our lawyers along with the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation). I tried to speak with the president of CONMEBOL and couldn't. It was unpleasant because it's a serious matter, it's not the first time this has happened, and CONMEBOL is being negligent in this case," she added.
Leila further emphasized that, should CONMEBOL fail to take action, Palmeiras will seek FIFA's support to ensure exemplary punishment. "We're not just asking for Cerro's exclusion because of this case, but because of recurring issues. Our department is working on it. If it's not resolved at CONMEBOL, it will be at FIFA," she concluded.
The incident occurred while Palmeiras was winning 3-0, and the striker was being substituted. Luighi, visibly shaken, made a point of reporting what happened to the referee, which resulted in a temporary pause in the match.
After the game ended, the player didn't hide his anger at the incident. “Aren't you going to ask me about the racist act that happened to me today? Seriously? How long are we going to put up with this? Tell me, how long? What they did to me is a crime, aren't you going to ask about that?” Luighi exclaimed, with tears in his eyes.
