Chelsea condemn alleged racist abuse of players during academy match vs Qarabag

Chelsea have condemned the alleged racist abuse that their team faced during their five-goal victory over Qarabag in the UEFA Youth League on Wednesday.

The game, played in Baku, was marred by allegations of racist abuse from the stands, with a video circulated on social media showing at least one fan making monkey gestures towards Chelsea players.

Chelsea confirmed in a statement that they have raised the issue with UEFA.

The statement read: “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.”

The game was paused as a result of the alleged abuse.

The Athletic have approached Qarabag and UEFA for comment.

Typically, the disciplinary arm of governing body of European football waits for the publication of the referee’s report before deciding on any potential punishments.

This incident follows Aston Villa saying they would report Albanian club KF Skenderbeu to UEFA after alleged racist abuse of their Under-19 players and staff during their UEFA Youth League match last month.

Goals from Sol Gordon, Shumaira Mheuka, Frankie Runham, and two goals from Jesse Derry earned Chelsea an emphatic 5-0 victory in Baku.

They are now top of the Youth League table with four wins from four matches.