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Sweden delivers powerful anti-racism message after Jimmy Durmaz received threats

"I am a footballer at the highest level so I have to accept that I am criticized for what I do on the pitch. That's part of the job and I'm always willing to accept that but there are limits and that limit was passed yesterday."
Courtesy USA Today Sports

MOSCOW — Defender Jimmy Durmaz and his Sweden teammates delivered a powerful anti-racism message on Sunday, following a spate of sickening insults he received following a critical World Cup mishap.

Durmaz conceded the final minute free-kick that led to a winning goal for Germany’s Toni Kroos in Germany’s 2-1 victory over the Swedes on Saturday night, a result that put the fate of his team’s potential progress to the round of 16 in the balance.

In the hours that followed Durmaz received thousands of social media messages, some of them of a deeply offensive and racist nature.

“I would just like to say a few things regarding what happened after the game yesterday,” Durmaz said, while reading from a prepared statement from his phone at Sweden’s training center, while his fellow squad members stood behind him.

“I am a footballer at the highest level so I have to accept that I am criticized for what I do on the pitch. That’s part of the job and I’m always willing to accept that but there are limits and that limit was passed yesterday. When someone threatens me, when they call me darkie, bloody Arab, terrorist, Taliban, then that limit has been passed. And what is even worse, when they go after my family and my children and threaten, who the hell does that kind of thing.”

At the end of the message, Durmaz turned behind him, and, in a moving show of solidarity his colleagues responded with a statement that showed exactly what they thought of their friend’s tormentors.

“(Expletive) racism,” the Swedes bellowed, en masse.

Sweden can ensure its place in the knockout round by beating Mexico in its final group game on Wednesday.

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