Trabzonspor of Turkey midfielder, John Mikel Obi has gained support from his club and soccer fans worldwide in his battle against the scourge of racism that was hurled against him last weekend by an opponent and fans of rival club, Fernebahce, megasportsarena.com reports.
Mikel came under verbal attack from Fernebahce veteran, Emre Belözoğlu during Saturday’s top of the table clash, which Trabzonspor woin 2-1 and climbed above their visitors into third place in the Turkish Super Lig, only fans of The Yellow Canaries to further attack the former Super Eagles’ captain and his family with vitriolic at the start of this week.
In response to the rain of abuse against Mikel on social media, Trabzonspor came out with a public statement to condemn the action by Fener’s fans and, while lending total support to the 32-year-old Nigerian star, further disclosed that they have filed criminal complaints over the gory episode that spilled over from the pitch to the internet.
Trabzonspor stated in their complaint: “Racism is a refuge for helpless and ignorant people. Our player, [John] Obi Mikel, condemns the racist insults after the Fenerbahce match. We present to the public that we have filed a criminal complaint against the offenders.”
This comes after reports indicated that thousands of abusive messages had been sent to Mikel’s social media accounts, and to his family, after his side won the heated encounter at Senol Gunes Stadium in the city of Trabzon, with some of the posts having the N-word and banana emojis.
However, many neutral fans soon flooded social media late Monday in support of Mikel, with a load of posts condemning Fernebahce’s players and fans, with a united voice raised in support of the Nigerian star through #WeStandwithObi #SayNoToRacism.
