Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday used her Twitter page to blast racism in football after Peruvian fans targeted Cruzeiro's Tinga.
Fans directed monkey chants at the veteran midfielder, who had four years with Borussia Dortmund in Germany and an earlier spell in Japan with Kawasaki Frontale.
And Rousseff swiftly came to the 36-year-old's defence after Wednesday's 2-1 Copa Libertadores loss.
"The racism against Cruzeiro's Tinga in yesterday's game in Peru was lamentable.
"After the game, Tinga said he would swap what he has won in the game for a world with racial equality," Rousseff wrote, adding Brazil stood foursquare behind him.
And she insisted that the World Cup, "our Cup of Cups, will also be the Cup Against Racism."
Tinga said afterwards he would happily swap his career medals to win the fight against prejudice and acts of racism.
"I played in Germany for several years and sometimes encountered hostility,. But I never experienced anything like this. To start with I thought it was normal chanting but then I realised it was racism."
Cruzeiro's director of football Alexandre Mattos said the club would be taking up the matter with regional confederation CONMEBOL.
