Wilfried Zaha claims over racial abuse make for disturbing reading

Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha says that he is racially abused in most matches he plays for the Premier League side and is ‘regularly called a monkey or a n*****’.

There have been a number of high-profile incidents this season involving players – such as Man City and England star Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – both among those being racially abused by opposition supporters.

And Zaha claims he is on the wrong end of atrocious abuse almost every time he steps out onto the grass for Palace.

“Nearly every game I’m called a monkey or a n***** or a whatever,” Zaha told The Jackal magazine.

“Imagine if I really got down about that?”

Zaha added: “I don’t know if we’re animals to them or whatever. Why is this OK?

“Why are you saying these things right next to your five-year-old kid?

“And then, when you leave, what, you’re back to being a normal dad, working a normal job? People mask this stuff.”

And Zaha also explained what he has been doing to cope with the anger he feels from the disgusting abuse.

He continued: “Do you know how tiring it is, being angry? It’s a waste of time. There’s so much more to be happy about.

“For a couple of weeks, I’ve been speaking to a kind of life coach.

Wilfried Zaha TEAMtalk

 

“With football, you get to a point where you start to think, ‘Do I still love it, or am I doing it as a job?

“Going into a game with that mentality, that hunger, ‘I want to score, I want to score’. Just saying stuff to myself like, ‘I’ll make a difference to today’s game’.

“And when I go, blaze music in the car until I get there. The only thing that can prevent me from reaching my goal is my mentality, or injury.”

 

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