"It's hard to accept" - Premier League star says he was racially abused after win over Arsenal

Newcastle United midfielder Joelinton has said that he was racially abused after his side's 2-0 defeat against Arsenal in May.

Joelinton spoke about racism while on international duty with Brazil. His fellow teammate Vinicius Junior has endured racial abuse throughout the La Liga campaign.

The Newcastle player said that he, too, has been at the receiving end of racism, saying that there needs to be change (via Sky Sports):

"It's an important moment to speak about racism. We have been talking about it for a long time. Still, many things need to be changed. We talk about combat against racism, but we didn't have much of a change."

Joelinton added that racism has been an issue stemming back centuries but that it's still a glaring issue in this day and age:

"This (racism) is not something happening now but for a long time. And at the 21st century, we still see things like that. It's hard to accept and believe that we are evolving when things like that still happen."

The Newcastle midfielder was then asked if he has received racial abuse to which he responded by revealing messages he received following the Arsenal game:

"Not on the pitch, no. But after the Arsenal game, playing at home, I have received some messages with racist insults. But it's gone. ... it didn't affect me."

Joelinton is the latest to bring the issue of racism to light in the football world. La Liga has been wrapped in controversy after Vinicius received monkey chants during Real Madrid's 1-0 defeat at the Mestalla in May.

Vinicius lashed out at racists, demanding more action be taken by La Liga. He was supported by his compatriots Casemiro and Neymar.

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Arsenal's Bukayo Saka was subjected to racist abuse after penalty miss

Saka was racially abused after a penalty miss.

The issue of racism is still a massive problem in not only La Liga but across European football. Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka was at the receiving end of abhorrent online racism after his side's 2-2 Premier League draw with West Ham United in April.

Saka missed a penalty that would have put his side 3-1 up. It then emerged that the English attacker received racist abuse online following his missed penalty, per The Express.

This was also the case when Saka had missed a spot-kick in England's Euro 2020 final penalty shootout defeat to Italy. He, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were all abused online.

Arsenal released a statement on their website at the time condemning the individuals who racially abused the young forward:

"Once again, we are sad to have to say we condemn the racism towards a number of black players. This cannot continue, and the social media platforms and authorities must act to ensure this disgusting abuse to which our players are subjected on a daily basis stops now."

Saka is just one of many cases that have taken place in European football as racism continues to rear its ugly head.