BARCELONA: A storm over racism in Spanish football erupted Monday after a fan threw a banana at Barcelona full back Dani Alves, with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff joining widespread outrage.

A spectator threw the banana onto the pitch near the 30-year-old Brazilian international as his star-studded side played at Villareal on Sunday night.

Alves won praise for his reaction, picking up the banana to take a bite before going on with game and setting up a goal in Barcelona’s dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 victory.

It was the latest in a long series of racist taunts in the Spanish game and one of many suffered personally by Alves during more than a decade with Sevilla and then Barcelona.

“The player Dani Alves gave a daring and strong response to racism in sports,” Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff said in a series of Twitter messages. Such racism had become “unfortunately common,” she added.

Referee David Fernandez Borbalan noted the banana-throwing incident in his match report, which will be reviewed by the competition committee of Spain’s football federation on Tuesday and could lead to a sanction.

Barcelona issued a strong message of support for Alves, who is likely to be one of the key players in the World Cup finals in Brazi in June.

“Barcelona totally support and stand with player Dani Alves after the insults he received Sunday at the Villareal ground by certain people at the game,” the club said in a statement.

Barcelona welcomed the condemnation of the banana insult by Villareal, which sent a message on Twitter after the game saying: “Pity to see an ignoramus capable of such a lamentable act. There is no room for it in sport and even less in our club.” Villareal’s reaction was a move in the right direction toward “converting grounds into areas where sports take priority and where the bad behavior by some people is, first, isolated and then, eradicated for good,” Barcelona said.

“I have been in Spain 11 years and it has been the same for 11 years. You have to laugh at these backward people,” Alves said after Sunday’s game.

“We are not going to change it, so you have to take it almost as a joke and laugh at them.” Alves’ teammates and fans lent him public support.

“We are all monkeys,” his compatriot Neymar said on the Instagram social networking site, where he posted a photograph of himself eating a banana and his two-year-old son hugging a cuddly banana toy.

Former England international Gary Lineker who once played for Barcelona, tweeted after the match: “Utterly brilliant reaction from Alves. Treat the racist berk with complete disdain!” Racism has long been a problem in European football stadiums and the continental and global bodies, UEFA and FIFA, have tried to launch campaigns.

In November last year, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said he was “sickened” to see some Real Betis supporters make monkey chants at their own player, Brazilian defender Paulao, in a city derby against Sevilla.

Earlier in the season, two Elche fans were fined 4,000 euros ($5,400) and banned from attending sporting events for 12 months for racially abusing Granada defender Allan-Romeo Nyom.

Incidents have also stained top level games in Italy, Russia and other European nations.

Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off the pitch over racial insults made during a friendly between his then club AC Milan and a lower-league Italian side in January last year.

UEFA in February punished the Serbian federation, Russian club CSKA Moscow and Cypriot side Apollon Limassol for racist behavior by fans.

Serbia’s under 21 team were ordered to play a match without home fans after their supporters made monkey chants during a game against Belgium on November 15.