Wayne Lumbasi
Real Madrid defender David Alaba has suffered racist abuse on his social media accounts after voting for Lionel Messi ahead of Karim Benzema in FIFA’s The Best awards. Alaba, who joined the Spanish champions in July 2021, was targeted on social media with Real Madrid fans posting monkey and gorilla emojis on his most recent Instagram posts.
Alaba is the captain of the Austrian national team and as such was the team’s representative for voting for the award, yet it raised a few eyebrows that contrary to other stars who prioritise their own club teammates, he did not select Real Madrid colleague Benzema in top spot.
Real Madrid fans were angered by the fact he voted for Lionel Messi in first place ahead of club team-mate Karim Benzema and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe. But Alaba has since taken to Twitter to say Austria’s national team submitted the vote collectively rather than individually allowing the captain to decide the standings.
