Zaha faces racist abuse online after Palace knocked out Man City

[ad_1]

Soccer Football – Premier League – Manchester City v Crystal Palace – Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Great Britain – October 30th 2021 Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace celebrates after the match Action Images via Reuters / Molly Darlington

Oct.31 (Reuters) – Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha suffered racist abuse online and the 28-year-old shared screenshots of some of the comments after Saturday’s 2-0 Premier victory League against Manchester City.

Zaha, who scored the game’s first goal at the Etihad Stadium, was knocked down by Aymeric Laporte, which saw the City defender receive a consecutive red card in the first half timeout.

The Ivorian international, who has previously been targeted online, posted images of the racist messages he received on Instagram after the game and called on social media companies to take the issue seriously.

“This post is not for me to receive a million messages saying ‘we are with you’ and ‘this is disgusting’ or that I am getting sympathy,” Zaha wrote on Instagram. “I’m not here for all the nonsense that is done instead of solving the real problem.

“I don’t mind abusing because today it comes from doing the job I do even if it’s not an excuse but my color will always be the real problem but it’s okay because I will be always BLACK AND PROUD.

“Talk to me when you really take this problem seriously. “

Facebook, owner of Instagram, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Several players have faced racial abuse online in recent months, particularly in the Premier League, and English football has urged social media companies to do more to tackle the problem.

Instagram previously announced new measures and Twitter has pledged to continue its efforts after taking action on cases of football-related abuse in Britain.

Earlier this year, Zaha said he would stop “kneeling” before games as part of England’s anti-racism campaign because he believed the meaning of the “degrading” gesture had been lost.

Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru Editing by Robert Birsel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]