“In Russia, I tried to avoid problems and behaved normally” – ex-midfielder of Spartak Niemeli

Former Spartak striker Silvanus Niemeli told how he encountered racism in Russia and spoke about the situation with a banana thrown by a fan at Zenit midfielder Wendel.

— In Russia, I tried to avoid problems. Maybe if I had been less careful, then some problems could have arisen. If I went for a walk somewhere, I didn’t run into anyone, I behaved normally. Therefore, for all the time that I was at Spartak, I have never had anything like this.

Only once, when we played against Yenisei, I scored a goal and ran to celebrate in the direction of the opponent’s fans. They began to hoot, imitate the sounds that monkeys make. In response, I just laughed and patted them, and they applauded me. Fans always want to poke the best players of the opposing team with such things. It is very important to respond correctly and try to answer them with your game. But the situation that happened in the Russian Cup with Wendel is, of course, ugly, Nimeli quotes Metaratings.ru.

Nimely played for Spartak-2 from 2017 to 2021. The forward even played in the RPL for the main team and received a medal for Spartak’s victory in the 2017 Russian Super Cup.

This season, the 24-year-old striker plays for Surkhan in the Uzbek championship.