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Lionel Messi has reportedly been accused by former Everton midfielder Royston Drenthe of 'doing a Suarez' and using racist language when the pair played against each other in Spain.

Dutchman Drenthe, whose loan spell at Goodison Park has effectively ended, is officially on the books at Real Madrid, and came up against Messi during his time in Spain.

It is there that the Holland international claims he was called a 'negro' by the FIFA world player of the year – the same word Patrice Evra said Luis Suarez used against him.

(Image: Sky Sports)

In an article on Dutch news website Nu.nl, Drenthe says: "I played against him [Messi] many times and we always have problems with each other.

“You know what bothers me so? That tone with which he always says, 'negro, negro'. I understand that 'negro' in South America is very common, but we can not stand it.

“Mahamadou Diarra, my team-mate at Real, could explode if 'negro' was aimed at him. The Argentinean Gabriel Heinze and Gonzalo Higuain said it initially on the training ground, but they were stopped.

“When Hercules [the team Drenthe spent a year on loan with last season] played Barcelona, during the game I had a small altercation with him [Messi]. He gave me a hand in the match and again said a few times, 'hola negro'."

(Image: David Ramos)

Uruguayan Suarez was banned for eight matches and fined £40,000 earlier this season after being found guilty of using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour in a Premier League match in 2011.

The Liverpool striker defended himself on the grounds of cultural differences and that he was unaware that language acceptable in South America was viewed as racist in Europe.