Man United striker Edinson Cavani accused of being ‘racist’ in Instagram post after Southampton win | OneFootball

Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani has sparked controversy and been labelled a ‘racist’ for an Instagram post after his match-winning performance against Southampton this afternoon.

Cavani, who came off the bench at halftime to contribute a game-winning two goals and an assist, responded to someone on his Instagram story with ‘Gracias Negrito’.

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The literal transition of those Spanish words is ‘thanks Black’, which has of course sparked controversy, but the use of the term may be seen as okay for want of a better word in some contexts.

Some fans have compared the incident to that of Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, in which the then Liverpool striker was handed an eight-match ban for using the same word.

The tricky part was touched upon by the Independent at the time, which details that the term ‘negrito’ is used widely in Spanish-speaking areas within Latin American in both a derogatory and positive way.

The incident has sparked some reaction from some Liverpool fans in particular, which has led to fierce debate on social media:

In the above case, it’s clear that Cavani has used the term in a pleasant manner as it’s accompanied by ‘gracias’ (‘thanks’), but the incident as still sparked serious controversy.

It remains to be seen whether this incident will be investigated by either Manchester United, the Premier League or Football Association.