Liverpool Trio Receive Racist Abuse Following Champions League Loss

Liverpool trio Trent Alexander-Arnold, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita are the latest players to receive disgusting racist abuse, following the club's loss to Real Madrid.

On Tuesday, following their Champions League quarter final first leg loss against Real, the three Liverpool players were subject to racism on social media.

According to Sky Sports, Alexander-Arnold and Keita both had posts on Instagram responded to with monkey emojis, whilst the Empire of the Kop reported that Mane had also been targeted.

Sky report that Facebook, who own Instagram, will be investigating the issue, something they've had to do quite a lot recently.

In a statement on their website, Liverpool FC said, "Once again we are sadly discussing abhorrent racial abuse the morning after a football game. It is utterly unacceptable and it has to stop.

"LFC condemns all forms of discrimination and we continue to work with our inclusion partners through our Red Together initiative to campaign against it.

"As a club, we will offer our players any and all support that they may require. We will also work with the relevant authorities to identify and, if possible, prosecute those responsible.

"We know that this will not be enough until the strongest possible preventative measures are taken by social media platforms and the regulatory bodies which govern them.

"The current situation cannot be allowed to continue and it is incumbent on all of us to ensure that it does not."

Keita had a poor night against Real but it's no excuse for the disgusting abuse from fans. Image: PA Images

Abuse on social media towards black players has increased in recent months, or at least the reporting of it has, leading some to question if taking the knee is having any sort of effect.

That has led former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry to come off social media, with the Frenchman explaining his decision on a post last week, "From tomorrow morning I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright," the former Monaco manager said.

"The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There HAS to be some accountability.

"It is far too easy to create an account, use it to bully and harass without consequence and still remain anonymous.

"Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms. I'm hoping this happens soon."

Racist incidents on the pitch have also been in the news recently, with Valencia players leaving the pitch after Juan Cala was accused of racially abusing Mouctar Diakhaby at the weekend.

That followed an incident in the Europa League a few weeks ago, when Rangers' Glen Kamara accused an opponent of racism.

Something certainly needs to be done.

Topics: Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Racism, Football, Naby Keita, Premier League, Champions League, Sadio Mane, Real Madrid, La Liga

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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