Dani Alves eats banana: Sergio Aguero, Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan give their support to Barcelona defender over Twitter

Alves was the target of a vile act of racism during the 3-2 victory over Villarreal but has been applauded for his response

Dani Alves drew praise from the football community for the way he handled a racial taunt during Sunday night’s 3-2 win over Villarreal, after the Barcelona defender had a banana thrown at him by a home fan in the El Madrigal.

Preparing to take a corner, the item of fruit landed in front of the right-back, who calmly picked it up, peeled it, took a bite and proceeded to take the set-piece.

Team-mate Neymar immediately gave his support to Alves as well as had his own joke at the racists expense, posting on his Facebook profile the caption “#weareallmonkeys” along with a picture of himself and his son with a banana.

Napoli’s Dries Merthens also backed the Brazilian defender, tweeting a picture of himself eating one along with the message “Great reaction by Dani Alves. Respect!”

Alves responds to racist taunt by peeling and eating banana

And Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero posted a picture on his Twitter account of himself alongside his colleague Marta of the pair also eating a banana.

Former England striker turned Match off the Day presenter Gary Lineker said that Alves response was “Utterley brilliant”, while Piers Morgan also had his say, claiming it was the “Greatest response to racism you will ever see”.

And finally, the Evening Standard’s Patrick Barclay took a more reserved approach on Alves’ potassium boost, saying: “Ten out of ten for Dani Alves with the banana. But it’s something you can only do once.”

Do you think Alves was right to ignore the racial abuse, or should he have called for the players to leave the field in protest? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.