Liverpool suffered another racial PR gaffe on Wednesday when reserve striker Daniel Pacheco called club team-mate Glen Johnson "negrito" when wishing him luck on Twitter.
Johnson tweeted he was departing for the European Championship in Ukraine and Poland when the Spaniard responded in a conciliatory gesture.
Pacheco, 21, soon aware of his ill choice of expression, then explained it was a term of endearment for Johnson, who ostensibly speaks Spanish. However players have spoken of their fury at the term.
Royston Drenthe, who accused Lionel Messi of racially abusing him, recalled how Mahamadou Diarra - his team-mate at Real Madrid - would become "furious" when Argentinian team-mates Gabriel Heinze and Gonzalo Higuain called him "negro".
"Negrito" was initially used as a defence of Reds forward Luis Suarez by his fans after he was accused of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra. Instead it transpired the Uruguayan had called Evra "negro" eight times during an argument, and he was suspended eight matches and fined £40,000.
Liverpool however supported Suarez by infamously donning T-shirts ahead of their match against Wigan Athletic, which the club was heavily criticised for.
When the Merseysiders faced United at Old Trafford on 11 February, Suarez, the racial abuser, refused to shake the hand of Evra, the racially abused. He was forced to apologise the following day for his conduct, albeit not to Evra.
Pepe Reina too appeared in a banned Spanish advert which was accused of depicting black people as "stupid".