Antonio Rudiger Reports Racist Abuse in Chelsea’s Victory at Tottenham

?Chelsea’s dominant 2-0 win at Tottenham was overshadowed by reports of racist chanting aimed at Antonio Rudiger.

The Germany international was kicked in the ribs by Son Heung-min early in the second half, and the South Korean was sent off after a VAR check. Shortly after, he reported to club captain Cesar Azpilicueta that he had been the subject of racial abuse from home fans.

Kurt Zouma,Dele Alli,Antonio Rudiger

?Azpilicueta then informed referee Anthony Taylor, and ?Spurs were forced to make three staggered announcements over the public address system that there is no place for racism as per Premier League protocol.

“Racist behaviour from spectators is interfering with the game,” was the first announcement made, before second and third announcements added: “Please remember that racism has no place in football.”

After the match, Azpilicueta stressed that racism is still existent in all parts of life and not just football, and that players have been reminded of the protocols to be taken.

“It is made very clear to us all that if we have heard any racist incident to report it,” he said, as reported by ?Goal.

“Tony [?Rudiger] came to me and told me he was listening to racist songs towards him so I reported it to the referee. We are very concerned and aware of this behaviour.

“Altogether we need to make it stop. I hope everything gets clear and we eradicate it as soon as possible. It‘s an issue not just in football but in life.”

Cesar Azpilicueta

Tottenham have released a statement condemning the incident and insisting they will launch an investigation into it.

“We are now conducting a thorough investigation which will include liaising with Chelsea and their players for their observations,” the statement said. “Any form of racism is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our stadium. We take any such allegations extremely seriously and shall take the strongest possible action against any individual found to be behaving in such a way, including stadium bans.”

There have been several high profile instances of racism in the Premier League in 2019, with Fred ?notably the subject of abuse during Manchester United’s 2-1 win at rivals Manchester City earlier in December.

This isn’t the first incident of racism at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in recent times, as a Burnley fan was ?evicted for abusing Son during Spurs’ 5-0 win over the Clarets. The 13-year-old perpetrator and his family were then contacted by Burnley over being sent on an ‘enforced educational programme in conjunction with Kick It Out.

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