Chelsea have condemned racist abuse aimed at their young players after their under-19 Uefa Youth League fixture against Qarabag in Baku had to be stopped because of an incident allegedly involving one home supporter on Wednesday.
The match was halted temporarily after an opening Chelsea goal from Sol Gordon in the 58th minute was followed by a home fan appearing to make racist gestures towards the Premier League club’s players. Eyewitnesses suggested monkey gestures and noises were made. After the match resumed at the Azersun Arena Chelsea went on to win 5-0.
A Chelsea spokesperson said: “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.
“Chelsea Football Club is immensely proud of the diversity within our team and across our entire club and will continue to work with Uefa to ensure that those responsible for discriminatory behaviour in football are held accountable.”
A Qarabag spokesperson said: “We are sorry about this incident. It does not reflect the values of our club. We will investigate it thoroughly.”
Chelsea’s players complained to the Ukrainian referee, Dmytro Kubriak, who stopped the match and consulted the coaching staff of both teams in the technical area. There were about 100 spectators in attendance. Uefa will wait for the referee’s report before taking any action.
Chelsea maintained their perfect start to the competition thanks to further goals from Shim Mheuka, Frankie Dunham and a brace from Jesse Derry and are top of the Youth League table after four games. The club’s senior men’s side were due to face Qarabag in the Champions League on Wednesday.
