Udinese defender Danilo has been sentenced to a year in prison after being found guilty of racist abuse by a court in Brazil.
The 28-year-old was caught by a television camera spitting in the face of Atlético Paranaense player Manoel and calling him a “macaco”, which means monkey in Portuguese, while playing for Palmeiras in the 2010 Copa do Brasil.
The Brazilian centre-back was handed a year’s custodial sentence by the 18th Criminal Court of the State of São Paolo for the offence.
However, it is expected that the punishment will be reduced to a €127,000 fine on appeal, or 500 times the state minimum wage.
Danilo, who is currently earning €400,000 per year, joined the Serie A outfit from Palmeiras in the summer of 2011.
He has made 25 appearances for Udinese this season, both domestically and in Europe, and was being monitored by Scudetto champions Juventus prior to the January transfer window.
