"Football is a game, we have to take pleasure from, but with the knowledge that life goes on before and after a match," Eto'o was quoted as saying by Turkish newspapers on Wednesday.

His comments came as he received the best athlete of the year award from the Turkish daily Zaman.

"Please give me support to banish violence and insults from sports," he said, describing insults on the football pitch as a "world problem".

Eto'o, Spain's top scorer with 18 goals, wanted to leave the pitch a quarter of an hour before the end of Barcelona's 2-0 away victory against Real Zaragoza in protest at monkey cries from the rival team's supporters.

The Cameroon international was persuaded to stay in the game till full-time by the referee and teammates.

Real Zaragoza announced Tuesday they must pay a 9,000-euro fine for the incident, but said they would appeal the decision made by the Spanish league.