Luiyi De Lucas hits his opponent in the face with his fist immediately after the final whistle. He later apologizes – and reports the person he was beaten to.
The game had just ended when the fuse blew. Luiyi De Lucas caused a scandal at the cup game in Cyprus between city rivals AEL and Apollon Limassol. But he obviously had a sad history.
First things first: The defender from the Dominican Republic initially walked calmly across the pitch after his team’s 3-1 defeat. Until his opponent Eliel Peretz ran into him. Suddenly De Lucas completely lost his nerve, punched Peretz and kicked him.
A pack formed, teammates and opponents held back De Lucas, who ran after the fleeing Peretz. This can be seen in a video that went viral on social networks. Other footage shows that Peretz sustained a bleeding laceration to his head. The referee showed red to both players.
De Lucas has since apologized via Instagram for his freak out and explained how it happened.
He writes: “My behavior was unacceptable and unprofessional, and I would like to apologize, especially to my teammate, but also to everyone else, for my reckless behavior.”
De Lucas then goes into the circumstances of how, in his view, the outburst came about: “Throughout his playing time, I was constantly exposed to repeated insults of a deeply racist and personal nature. I don’t want to provide a platform for the words that were used against me .”
Beating victim Peretz was only substituted on in the 77th minute. Despite the short playing time, De Lucas made serious accusations against the Israeli: “In my professional career, I have never experienced such verbal racism on the field.”
That’s why he took legal action. De Lucas: “With the help of my lawyer, I have already filed a complaint with the Cypriot police and reported the racist behavior against me to the responsible authorities of the CUP, UEFA and FIFA.”