Barcelona star received sickening online abuse after PSG defeat

After Barcelona’s Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, there was plenty of ill-feeling towards Xavi Hernandez’s squad, who went from 3-2 up to 6-4 down during the 90 minutes of the second leg at the Estadi Olimpic.

One player who was especially targeted after a poor performance was Joao Cancelo, who was blamed for two of PSG’s four goals in Montjuic. The Portuguese defender has revealed to ESPN (via Relevo) that he received sickening online abuse in the days after the defeat to PSG.

“There are comments on Instagram wishing death upon my daughter who’s not even been born yet. They would not say it to my face, because we would have a problem, but in the comments they write what they want. They’re offensive to my partner, my daughter, our unborn baby.

“It’s a cruel world and you have to know how to live with it. I know how to, but I just don’t know what to say anymore. Wishing death upon a baby is really serious. People don’t think about the person behind the footballer they see on the television. We are humans, too. We are all the same.”

Online abuse has become a growing problem on the Internet over the last few years, and footballers are becoming increasing targets. Cancelo may be able to not be too affected by it, but some of his Barcelona teammates may not be the same.