Samuel Eto'o rammed the racist chants of his detractors back down their throats as he scored the only goal in Inter Milan's 1-0 victory at Cagliari that sent them joint top of Serie A yesterday.
The match in Sardinia was briefly held up after just three minutes as Eto'o suffered racist taunts from the home side's "ultra" fans.
Following a stadium announcement reminding those fans that the game could be abandoned if they continued, the match resumed with Eto'o proving the hero.
On 39 minutes, Alessandro Agostini failed to clear his lines properly and the ball spun off Wesley Sneijder.
Eto'o plucked the ball out of the air with a piece of sublime control using his right foot, then shifted on to his left, leaving Davide Astori bamboozled, and finished crisply inside the post.
To celebrate, the Cameroon forward mocked those who had abused him by imitating a monkey.
Eto'o now has 12 goals in 11 games this season but Rafael Benitez, the coach, insists his team is not over-reliant on the hitman ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash against English side Tottenham Hotspur.
"He's in great form and that's a good thing for us but we can score in a variety of different ways," the Spaniard said.
"Obviously the better you play, the easier it is to win but it's important to win to give us confidence. We made one or two mistakes and [Cagliari] could have been dangerous.
"Now we'll think about Tottenham. It will be tough, they have speed and ability. We'll have to play a great match."
Elsewhere, Juventus thrashed Lecce to move up to fifth in Serie A. After Alberto Aquilani's early opener, Felipe Melo got the second from the penalty spot and Fabio Quagliarella had them 3-0 up before half-time. Alessandro Del Piero then capped a fine afternoon for the hosts as he came off the bench to get the fourth eight minutes from time.