Benetton suspend Nemer after rotten banana incident

Nemer was born in Argentina but has represented Italy

Benetton Treviso prop Ivan Nemer has been suspended until 30 June after giving team mate Cherif Traore a rotten banana as a Christmas present.

His future with the Italy national team will depend on his participation and completion of the training.

"I deeply regret what happened," the 24-year-old said in a statement.

"The stupidity of my gesture, the damage caused to a friend, the harm caused to my team, to my team mates, to the country I represent and to the game I love.

"Racism does not and will never play any role in my life, just as it should not play any role in the lives of any of us," added Argentina-born Nemer, who has 11 caps for Italy.

Following the incident in December, Traore, who was born in Guinea but has lived in Italy since the age of seven, wrote on Instagram that he did not normally react to "racist jokes" so as not to make enemies.

Benetton Treviso's squad and Nemer apologised to Traore during a meeting at the club's training ground.