Chelsea have made UEFA aware of alleged racist abuse directed at “a number” of the club’s players during Wednesday’s Youth League meeting with Qarabağ in Azerbaijan.
Before the senior sides went head to head at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku, the clubs did battle across town at the Azersun Arena. Chelsea ran out 5–0 winners, with Sol Gordon, Jesse Derry (2), Shumaira Mheuka and Frankie Ruhman getting the goals.
The deadlock wasn’t broken until almost an hour had been played, but Gordon celebrated near to a section of home support, who seemingly took exception. It is alleged that monkey gestures were then directed the way of Chelsea players and the game was temporarily halted after the referee was made aware. The young Blues carried on with the match and scored four more goals without reply.
Derry was later booked for the way that he celebrated in front of the home support.
A widely published Chelsea statement made clear: “We are aware of an incident during today's UEFA Youth League match in Azerbaijan in which, after scoring, a number of our players were subjected to racist abuse from an individual in the crowd.
“Racism and all forms of discriminatory behaviour are completely unacceptable and have no place in football or indeed in society. We strongly condemn the actions of the individual responsible.
“Our players have the full support of everyone at the club, and we have raised the incident immediately with the UEFA match delegate and home club: We expect this matter to be investigated fully under UEFA’s disciplinary procedures.
“We are proud of the way our players and staff responded to the incident on the pitch, swiftly reporting it to the referee, and commend those for dealing with the matter professionally and appropriately in line with UEFA protocols.”
In response, a Qarabağ spokesperson expressed sorrow and surprise at the incident. It now remains to be seen how UEFA will respond, set to be shaped by what the referee noted in his report.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chelsea Inform UEFA of Alleged Racist Abuse During Youth League Clash.