FC Barcelona is having a down year in the standings. La Liga rival Real Madrid has usurped their position as the dominant team in Spain. Barça no longer lays claim to the world's best player either. Four-time FIFA/Ballons d'Or winner Lionel Messi has lost a step as well and is no longer the scoring sensation he once was. But the worst black eye the team has received all year long has come courtesy of a 'rouge' racist fan.

During an April 27 La Liga (Spain's highest soccer league) matchup, the yet-to-be-named 'fan' threw a banana onto the field of play, clearly in a lame attempt to intimidate and upset Barcelona's Dani Alves.

What Alves did in response to that act has the internet and sports world abuzz. He picked up the banana. Peeled it. Took a nice bite out of it and managed to keep playing without missing a beat.

Fellow soccer stars have applauded the Brazilian right back's quick, non-hostile reaction to the racist act. Here's what they had to say according to CNN:

"Dani Alves owned him," so-said a tweet by Barcelona and Brazilian National teammate Neymar. "Take That bunch of Racists. We are all Monkeys So What."

"Utterly brilliant reaction from Alves," tweeted FIFA World Cup all-time leading goalscorer Gary Lineker. "Treat the racist berk with complete disdain."

But unfortunately their comments likely won't be enough to reverse the tide of racial insensitivity rampant among European soccer fans, particularly those located in Spain.

Villarreal, to their credit, threw down the hammer on the so-called fan. They banned the guy for life. That means that Alves and fellow players of color will have one less knucklehead to deal with whenever they play in Estadio El Madrigal.

"Villarreal football club again states its firm stance in favor of respect, equality and good sportsmanship and a clean game both on the playing field and off it, and states its total rejection of any act that goes against those principles, such as violence, discrimination, racism or xenophobia."

Oh, and how sweet is this: Villarreal scored two own-goals to tie up the score 2-2. Barça then scored and went on to win the game 3-2.

How would you react to having a banana thrown at you? After all, if someone is angry enough at your skin color to throw something onto the field of play, could they not have tampered with the item as well? The banana could've been poisoned, no? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.