Arsenal winger Willian calls for action over online racial abuse

The Brazilian is the latest in a long line of players to receive racist abuse online and the

star decided to speak out about the effect of the comments on himself and his family.

the 32-year-old wants more footballers to share their experiences, as well as calling on the authorities to take stronger action.

Speaking about the abuse that he has suffered, Willian said:

“It has been difficult to talk about.

“We as players, we cannot do a lot. We do what we can do. We report it. We share it with you guys (the press) and we speak about that, but we want action.

“I think we have to try to find a way to stop it because it is difficult when people say horrible words about you, about your family, that’s not good.

“They can criticize us in relation to what we do on the pitch. I have no problem with that, no problem at all. If they want to criticize me, what I am doing on the pitch, if I have to play better, if I have to train more - yes, I will accept that.

“But when they come to attack you with horrible words, your family, that’s not good. So, we have to stop it and try to find a way to stop it.”

Willian continued:

“It really affects me when they say about my family

.

“As I said before, if they want to criticize me, it’s no problem, I always accept that. But when they come to attack your family with those words, that hurts. It’s a big problem.”

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