What happened?
Tuanzebe was substituted after 83 minutes while Martial played the full match in United’s shock 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United.
Both players posted on social media after the match, but were then the subject of racist abuse in the comments sections of their posts.
Tuanzebe has since deleted his Twitter account and an Instagram post after the abuse.
What has Kick It Out said?
The statement from Bhandari read: “We are disappointed that players are continuing to be subject to racist abuse on their social platforms, it is completely unacceptable.
“We will continue to work with the football authorities, law enforcement and social media companies to try and rid football of hateful and discriminatory behaviour. As we have said before, online hate must have real-life consequences, so people don’t continue to spread hate as freely as they wish.
“The individuals responsible for this abuse will hopefully be identified by the social media platforms and swiftly removed. We know that discriminatory abuse can have significant real world impact on the welfare of the victims. We encourage the players to get such support from their club in the first instance, and support is also available from the PFA and Kick It Out.”
What has the response been?
The response to condemn the actions and support the players has been swift. Manchester United themselves tweeted a short statement: “We are #UnitedAgainstRacism. Then, now and always.”
Alongside a picture of himself and Bruno Fernandes taking the knee, United captain Harry Maguire tweeted: “UNITED against racism. We will not tolerate it.”
With a picture of Tuanzebe, fellow United team-mate Scott McTominay posted: “My brother. Disgusted with what I have read this morning.”
Is discrimination in English football on the increase?
Yes. In September, at the start of the 2020-21 season, Kick It Out revealed a 42% increase in reports of discrimination in English professional football.
Reports made to Kick It Out rose from 313 in 2018-19 to 446 in 2019-20, despite the COVID-19 pandemic meaning that a significant part of the season was spent behind closed doors.
Reports of racism in the professional game rose 53%.
Where else does this kind of thing happen?
In November, The Athletic uncovered thousands of racist and homophobic team names on Fantasy Premier League.
Go Deeper with Joey D’Urso and Carl Anka below.
(Photo: Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
