Barcelona defender Dani Alves reportedly planned to deliver an anti-racism message by eating a banana thrown from the crowd before the incident even occurred.

The Brazilian has received widespread praise for his reaction after a Villarreal supporter threw a banana onto the pitch during Sunday's 3-2 victory for Barca.

While many believe that Alves's reaction was spur of the moment, newspaper AS reports that Spanish PR firm Loducca had already spoken to the defender and his teammate Neymar to act in a similar fashion should such an incident occur.

The discussion was reportedly held following the Catalan derby at Espanyol back in March, when a banana skin was thrown onto the pitch following alleged monkey chants from rival supporters.

Guga Ketzer, who works for the PR company, told the publication that they also came up with hashtags #somostodosmacacos and #weareallmonkeys, which have been used by a number of footballers on social media.