Drenthe hits out at racist Messi

The worlds greatest player, Barcelona and Argentina's Lionel Messi has been accused of racially abusing Royston Drenthe, while he was playing in Spain at Real Madrid and on loan at Hércules.

How this interview came about isn't clear, Drenthe is still officially on loan at Everton, but it's clear his time at Goodison Park is over.

He hopes to return to Holland to Feyenoord at the end of the season and perhaps that is why he conducted an interview with a Dutch website, but why he decided to make the accusation now, rather than at the time is anyone's guess.

Speaking about Messi, Drenthe is reported in the Telegraph as saying: 'I played against him many times and we always have problems with each other, You know what bothers me so? That tone with which he always says, 'negro, negro', I understand that negro in South America is very common, but we can not stand it.

He continued: 'Mahamadou Diarra, my team-mate at Real, could explode if 'negro' was aimed at him. The Argentinean Gabriel Heinze and Gonzalo Higuain said it initially on the training ground, but they were stopped.

'When Hércules played Barcelona, during the game I had a small altercation with him. He gave me a hand in the match and again said a few times, 'hola negro'.'

As the newspaper points out the reports appear to mirror the incident between Manchester United's Patrice Evra and Liverpool's Luis Suarez earlier this season.

It will be interesting to see if this interview leads towards an official complaint, or if any action is taken against Messi, but it isn't nice to hear, even if Drenthe does half attempt to explain that he understands it is due to a clash of cultures.

Getting back on to what was probably the point of the interview, Drenthe spoke about his future, where he quite clearly stated where he wants to be next season: 'I want to do what I like and that's play football. In addition Rotterdam is my city, Feyenoord have not called me yet, but of course I would not mind if they did.

'Maybe I'll call them myself.'

Vital Everton is 100% interactive. Not only can you have your say on the articles and the forums but you can also write an article to be published on the website or a suggest a poll so you can air your views.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.