A man has confessed to throwing a banana at Anzhi Makhachkala player Roberto Carlos at a match but denies the act was racially motivated and will not be punished, Samara Region police spokesman Sergey Goldshtein told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
A banana landed close to Roberto Carlos near the end of Anzhi’s 3-0 away win at Krylya Sovetov Samara in June, prompting the player to leave the field.
“The person who threw it was arrested with the help of surveillance cameras. He has confessed to the act,” Goldshtein said.
The spokesman added the man would not face any punishment over the incident.
The fan claimed he was angry but bore no malice against Roberto Carlos, Goldshtein said.
“In his words, he did not want to offend the footballer and threw the banana out of anger and it landed close to Roberto Carlos by chance.”
"The man said that he respects Roberto Carlos a lot and asks for his forgiveness. There were no racist motives behind his act."
At a ceremony before Roberto Carlos’ first game in Russia in March 2011, a Zenit St. Petersburg fan leaned over a railing offering him a peeled banana.
Zenit were fined $10,000 by the Russian Football Union for the racist incident.
