MADRID, Spain -- Barcelona defender Dani Alves has received an outpouring of support for his response to a racist taunt during a game, while Villarreal issued a lifetime ban to the season-ticket holder who threw a banana at him. Wholesale Astros Jerseys . Alves, who is black, was about to take a corner in Sundays 3-2 win at Villarreals El Madrigal Stadium when a banana landed on the pitch in front of him. The Brazil international picked it up, peeled it and ate some of it before throwing the rest aside. "Villarreal deeply regrets and condemns the incident that happened," Villarreal said in a statement on Monday. "The club has already identified the (culprit) and has decided to withdraw his season tickets, permanently." After the match, Alves said humour was the best way to combat racism in sport. That sentiment has led fellow football players, officials and even political figures from around the globe to respond with solidarity by picturing themselves eating a banana. Barcelona teammate Neymar posted a photo of himself on Instagram holding a peeled banana alongside his son, who was holding a doll that resembled a banana. Fellow Brazil teammates Hulk and Fred also lent support via their social media accounts. Argentina striker Sergio Aguero and Brazil womens striker Marta both posed for photos while biting into bananas, while former Brazil international Roberto Carlos also posted an internet photo of himself with the fruit. "We have suffered this in Spain for some time," Alves said Sunday. "You have to take it with a dose of humour. We arent going to change things easily. If you dont give it importance, they dont achieve their objective." Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who has been actively condemning racist acts in Brazilian football, also expressed her support to Alves, while Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Italy national team coach Cesare Prandelli also shared a banana in a photograph. "The player had a daring and strong response to racism in sport," Rousseff wrote on her official Twitter account. "Confronted by something that unfortunately has become too common in stadiums, Alves had attitude." Rousseff praised Neymar for getting behind his teammate and reiterated that Brazil will "raise the flag against racial discrimination" during the World Cup. FIFA President Sepp Blatter also commented on Twitter, saying that "what (Alves) tolerated last night is an outrage." He added that there "will be zero tolerance" at the World Cup. The match referee on Sunday included the 75th-minute incident in his match report, so Villarreal could face a fine. "Our club would like to express its firm commitment to promoting respect, equality, sportsmanship and fair play both on and off the field and our absolute rejection of any act that is contrary to these principles, such as violence, discrimination, racism and xenophobia," Villarreal added in its statement. Alves has often been subjected to racist taunts and called fighting racism "a lost war" in January 2013 after segments of Real Madrids fans abused him with monkey chants during a match. Madrid defender Marcelo, who is also Brazilian, was also recently greeted with monkey chants by a section of Atletico Madrid fans this season. Former Barcelona striker Samuel Etoo was convinced not to walk off at Zaragoza in 2006 after fans berated the Cameroon striker with racist chants. Two years earlier, Spain fans at Madrids Santiago Bernabeu Stadium infamously greeted Englands black players with monkey chants during an international friendly match. Cheap Andy Pettitte Jersey . Ho-Sang is a highly regarded prospect, as seen in TSNs Midseason Rankings. This was Game 3 of their playoff series and that wasnt the only strange incident in Londons 10-2 win over Windsor. Cheap Dallas Keuchel Jersey . You can catch all of the action LIVE on TSN2 at 6pm et/3pm pt. The Heat reached that mark Saturday night when they ruined the Philadelphia 76ers home opener. http://www.cheapastrosjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-nolan-ryan-jersey .B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan had ideal preparation for the playoffs at the Ford World Curling Championships with a pair of hard-fought wins over tenacious opponents Thursday.TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona came out of its last meeting with California a bit discombobulated, hurting from its first loss and the loss of forward Brandon Ashley for the rest of the season. It took a little while, but the Wildcats seem to have their groove back -- just at the right time. Coming off two solid road wins, No. 3 Arizona played one of its best games of the season -- certainly since Ashley went down -- quickly turning its rematch with Cal into an 87-59 rout Wednesday night. Nick Johnson had 22 points after struggling against Cal the first time and Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 points for the Wildcats, who pulled out a tough win at Utah and routed Colorado last week. "Obviously, we played very well tonight, one of our best games of the season," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "You might make the argument that the game against Colorado and tonights game were the best back-to-back games weve played all season." Cal won the first meeting 60-58 on a last-second jumper by Justin Cobbs that sent the students pouring onto the court. Arizona (26-2, 13-2 Pac-12) ran away from the Bears early in the rematch, using a big first-half run and good shooting all game to prevent the season sweep. T.J. McConnell finished with 13 points and six assists, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson provided a lift off the bench with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson also had seven rebounds and five assists after scoring four points on 1-of-14 shooting the first game against Cal. "It feels good right now," said McConnell, who has 22 assists and one turnover the past three games. "Were shooting the ball well and when we do that, were tough to beat." Cal (18-10, 9-6), struggled at times against Arizonas defensive pressure and had little chance of stopping the Wildcats at the other end to lose for the 17th time in 19 games at McKale Center. Arizona shot 50 per cent against the Bears and had a 42-25 rebounding advantage, including 15 on the offensive glass. Cobbs led Cal with 12 points. "Theyre good; you have to give credit where credit is due," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "They were solid and a little angry having lost to us. Theyre making shots now and at our place they werent making all their shots. Theyre playing really well right nnow. Cheap Jose Altuve Jersey. " Arizona wanted a little revenge after what happened in the first meeting against Cal. The Wildcats entered the Feb. 1 game with the No. 1 ranking and a school-record 21-game winning streak. They left Berkeley with their first loss of the season -- thanks to Cobbs stepback jumper with 0.9 seconds left -- and Ashley in a walking boot after he injured his right foot going up for a rebound in the first half. Ashley is done for the season, but Arizona has found ways to win without him, picking up three victories in four games, including Sundays 88-61 blowout at Colorado. The Wildcats started slowly in the rematch against Cal, opening 1 for 6 to miss more shots in the first 3 1-2 minutes than they did the entire half against Colorado (22 for 26). Once they got rolling, the Bears couldnt keep up. Triggered by its defence, Arizona went on a 12-2 run, building its lead to 39-23 on a series of steals and dunks. Johnson had one dunk in transition after a steal and Aaron Gordon had another, racing off for a head-above-the-rim reverse dunk that triggered a roar inside McKale Center. Hollis-Jefferson had a high-flying dunk on an alley-oop pass on an inbounds play, then threw down a tomahawk in transition after Johnson tracked down Cobbs to block his layup from behind at the other end. Arizona made 18 of 36 shots to lead 44-29 at halftime. Johnson had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, four rebounds and three assists while leading the top of Arizonas defence with McConnell at the top. "Its always good when everybody is hitting shots," Johnson said. "Whenever you hit a shot, it feels good and you hit a few in a row, its great for your confidence." The Wildcats quickly built the lead to 20 points in the second half, but Cal showed a little resiliency, going on an 11-0 run that cut Arizonas lead to 53-44. That was as close as the Bears would get. Arizona turned up the pressure again, McConnell hit a 3-pointer in transition and Gordon soared in for another dunk, putting the Wildcats back comfortably ahead, 70-52. "We cant afford a 15-point deficit against a team like Arizona," Cobbs said. "We played well for a stretch and cut the lead by eight, but they executed well on offence and I give them credit." ' ' '