Who knew that one act of banana-munching can inspire an anti-racism drive on Twitter by well-known footballers?

On Saturday, Barcelona's Brazilian fullback Dani Alves saw a banana being thrown at him while he was taking a corner in Barca's Spanish La Liga match against Villarreal.

Instead of showing his outrage at this racist gesture, he picked up the banana, peeled it and stuffed it into his mouth before taking the corner kick.

His unexpected act against such racism earned widespread praise from fans and fellow footballers, even Brazil president Dilma Rousseff.

Meanwhile, football stars such as Luis Suarez and Mario Balotelli have tweeted pics of themselves eating bananas, in obvious support of Alves. By the way, Villarreal have also banned the fan permanently from the stadium.

Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suarez (Liverpool):

Mario Balotelli (AC Milan):

Neymar (Barcelona):

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) and top women's footballer Marta:

Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund):

Lucas Moura (Paris Saint-Germain)