Liverpool player Dani Pacheco defends 'negrito' tweet sent to Glen Johnson

Glen Johnson is on duty for England at Euro 2012 (GETTY IMAGES)

Liverpool reserves forward Dani Pacheco's use of the word "negrito" in a Twitter message to team-mate Glen Johnson forced the young Spaniard to defend himself on the social networking site.

The 21-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Rayo Vallecano, used the term when wishing the England international luck as he headed to Poland for Euro 2012 on Wednesday.

He tweeted: "@glen-johnson good luck negrito!!!!"

Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez was banned for eight matches for using the same word towards Manchester United's Patrice Evra in a match at Anfield in October.

The Uruguay international unsuccessfully argued "negrito" was not a derogatory term in the Spanish language, despite its racial connotations in English.

When Pacheco received a couple of critical comments in response to his message he wrote: "I Allready (sic) explained in past what Negrito could mean. Good or bad depends how you say it. I always called @glen-johnson it in terms of love.

"Last tweet about it. @glen-johnson speaks Spanish and he knows what that mean when I say it to him. He is one of best mates there for me."

PA