Paul Pogba has become the subject of racist abuse online since he had a second-half penalty saved during Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Wolves on 19 August.
Some Twitterians used the N-word and other derogatory terms to call out the Frenchman, who has become the third player in a week to have racist slurs directed at him on social media following a penalty miss.
Many users jumped to his defence, saying that people can be angry with Pogba "without resorting to racism", which they dismissed as "absolutely disgusting":
You can be mad at Pogba's penalty miss without resorting to racism.
— GW (@garyMUFC86) 20 августа 2019 г.
If you did racially abuse him then there's no place for you in football and society.
Biggest frustration is the racism in the fan base being racist to pogba for missing a penalty
— Glazers Out (@NoMoreGlazers) 20 августа 2019 г.
Racist abuse for Paul Pogba tonight, absolutely disgusting!
— Terry Flewers (@TerryFlewersTFT) 19 августа 2019 г.
Fined them, arrested them and imprison them!
Awful to see some silly Man United fans being racist to Pogba now cause of a missed penalty. #KickItOut. It was only last week @MarcusRashford and @JesseLingard were showing support to @tammyabraham. It’s awful to see and needs to be stopped!
— CarefreeYouth (@CarefreeYouth) 19 августа 2019 г.
Imagine being that fuming you'll post racist abuse on twitter about Paul Pogba, mad world.
— Dylan Oliver (@dylanoliverr) 20 августа 2019 г.
Paul pogba penalty wasn't actually that bad the GK made a good save. Sick of seeing these racist comments on footballers. This really needs to stop its disgusting and has no place in football. Yet another day where racism makes the headlines #SayNoToRacism
— Glazers Out (@NoMoreGlazers) 20 августа 2019 г.
Pogba after he missed the penalty pic.twitter.com/OkxsLmx56Q
— Drew Talbot (@OliBryan4) 19 августа 2019 г.
While it remains to be seen whether the comments against Pogba will be investigated, Chelsea FC released a strongly worded statement following a similar situation involving its striker Tammy Abraham, who missed a decisive spot-kick in the UEFA Super Cup final shootout against Liverpool.
"We are disgusted with the abhorrent posts we have seen on social media. Chelsea FC finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour unacceptable. It has no place at this club and where there is clear evidence of Chelsea season ticket holders or members involved in such behavior, we will take the strongest possible action against them".
Blues' manager Frank Lampard added that he was "disgusted" by the abuse targeting the 21-year-old striker, and suggested that social media platforms must do more to tackle such situations.
Reading FC striker Yakou Meite also called out racist abuse sent to him on Instagram after he missed a 91st-minute penalty against Cardiff City on Sunday. The footballer posted a screenshot of the message, with the caption, "I don't think I need to speak".
Reading FC then took to Twitter to support the 23-year-old Ivory Coast international:
We won’t give oxygen to racist comments sent to this man via social media this afternoon.
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) 18 августа 2019 г.
Instead, we will let a picture tell a thousand words.
“We’ve got Meite...Yakou Meite...” 🎵 pic.twitter.com/4mRXmvqBSy
