MANCHESTER UNITED legend Rio Ferdinand slammed the vile racist abuse directed at Tottenham star Richarlison while on international duty with Brazil.
The winger had a banana thrown at him by a yob from the stands during the Selecao's 5-1 victory against Tunisia at Parc des Princes on Tuesday during their final game before the 2022 World Cup.
The 25-year-old had put his nation 2-1 up during the friendly game in Paris and was celebrating when the fruit was thrown at him.
Manchester United ace Fred then kicked the banana away with Richarlison appearing not to notice it until later.
Ferdinand took to Instagram where he released a clip condemning the "mad" incident.
The BT Sport pundit also criticised the media for the way they cover such incidents of racist abuse.
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Ferdinand said: "It's disheartening, you got your own kids waking up and going, 'Dad, seen that banana thrown on he pitch to Richarlison?'
"It's madness, there was probably as much vitriol and hysteria on social media and in media in general as there were with this racist incident as there was when Richarlison was doing kick-ups and he got smashed [at Nottingham Forest].
"Let that sink in, it's mad. It's just crazy. That's where the media feel in the way it's reported that racism is not [up] there [as] something we absolutely need to discuss and sort out. It's not there, it don't sit there man."
Richarlison addressed the sickening scenes after full-time and stated that the person responsible needs to be "identified and punished".
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Prior to kick-off, the ex-Everton ace and his team-mates posed next to an anti-racism banner after racist abuse Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior received from Atletico Madrid fans and an agent.
Richarlison said after the match: "I was talking about this with [Roberto] Firmino, saying that I think God did not allow me to see that because I don't know what I could have done in the heat of the moment.
"May this fan be identified and punished. It's hard. You see what happened with Vinicius Junior recently and now this, inside a stadium… May this incident teach other people not to do it."
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