The ugly, racist trend of tossing bananas at black soccer players continues

For the third weekend in a row, a European soccer match was marred by racism.

Atalanta supporters hurled bananas — a now popular symbol for racist soccer fans across Europe — at Milan defender Kevin Constant during a game in northern Italy on Sunday.

The Frnech-born Guineaan player showed the banana to match officials, who warned fans that if it happened again the match woudl be called off.

"Whoever threw the banana on the pitch deserves to have a coconut thrown back at them," Atalanta manager Stefano Colantuono told the Gazzetta dello Sport after the match.

"They've ruined what was a great afternoon."

Atalanta won the match 2-1, but was later slapped with a $55,000 fine over the incident.

Two weeks earlier Barcelona defender Dani Alves was preparing to take a corner kick during a game at Villarreal when a spectator threw a banana onto the pitch.

The piece of fruit landed near the Brazilian player. He responded by picking up the banana, peeling it, eating it and then taking the shot.

His actions led to a global online campaign against racism in soccer. Checkout #SomosTodosMacaos on Twitter. 

Watch a video of the now famous incident here.

Clearly some soccer fans didn’t get the message.

A week later, Levante’s Senegalese midfielder Papakouli Diop claimed he heard monkey chants from Atletico Madrid supporters. He responded by dancing on the pitch.

"It's an issue that has affected me a lot. I went to take a corner and part of the Atlético support began doing monkey chants," Diop said after the match.

"To take the heat out of the situation, I started to dance, but I didn't insult anyone. I don't have anything against the Atlético supporters because it was only a section of their support that shouted at me. I think it's disrespectful that it happens at all stadiums. It's a provocation. I don't know if it can be called racism, but the monkey chanting has to be stopped now."

You can see his brief routine here.