Liverpool Under-19s’ match against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday was abandoned after one of their players was subject to alleged racist abuse.
The young Reds were playing Frankfurt in Schwabish Hall in Germany as part of a youth football tournament when the incident happened.
According to German outlet Bild, a Frankfurt player allegedly used a racist term when aiming at insult at an opponent, after which Liverpool’s team walked off the pitch and refused to continue.
As the incident happened in the final few minutes of the game, it was first assumed that the match had ended 1-1, bit it was later announced that the match had officially been abandoned, giving Frankfurt a 3-0 win by default.
Following the match, Frankfurt sporting director Timmo Hardung spoke to the media and claimed the accused player had been misheard and that no racist language had been used.
He said that his player had actually said the word ‘digga’, a German slang term for ‘bro’ or ‘dude’.
‘Our entire NLZ [Youth Performance Centre] is like Eintracht Frankfurt, multicultural and we have clear values that we live by and constantly demand,’ Hardung said.
‘Racism has no place here, but we still take such an accusation seriously.
‘After consultation, our player confirmed that he had used the word ‘digga’, which is common in youth slang, in the course of a normal game. We have no doubt that this statement is correct.
‘We can rule out racism, it is a linguistic issue and we therefore hope that we have also cleared up the misunderstanding with the players concerned and those responsible at Liverpool FC.’
At the time of writing, Liverpool are yet to comment on the matter.
It comes at a time when the issue of racism in football is very much in the spotlight after Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez filmed himself and teammates singing a racist and transphobic chant after Argentina’s Copa America victory.
More to follow…