Chelsea have confirmed a report that one of their players was subjected to racial abuse during the club's 5-0 win at Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League last 16 second leg.
The Blues won the clash in Ukraine by a five-goal margin, handing them an 8-0 win on aggregate, thanks to a hat-trick from Olivier Giroud and scores from Marcos Alonso and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
We can confirm a report of racist abuse directed at one of our players in the final minutes of the match in Kiev from a small section of home supporters.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 18, 2019
We wholeheartedly condemn such abhorrent behaviour.https://t.co/ZG12S8ZqFc
However, as revealed by a statement on the club's official website, the victory was marred by an incident involving the home fans inside the NSC Olympiyskiy on Thursday March 14th.
The club revealed: "We can confirm a report of racist abuse directed at one of our players in the final minutes of the match in Kiev from a small section of home supporters. We wholeheartedly condemn such abhorrent behaviour.
"The matter was reported to the referee at the final whistle and the chairman and club secretary spoke to the UEFA match delegate immediately after the match. We expect UEFA to conduct a fulsome investigation and we will provide full cooperation."
Of course, this is not the first time Chelsea have spoken to UEFA regarding racist allegations in this Europa League campaign, though the previous communications revolved around reported abuse from their own fans during the group stage clash away at Vidi.
In that instance, the charges were dropped after insufficient evidence was found by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, despite the club themselves issuing a strongly worded statement condemning the chants at the time.
Maurizio Sarri's side are due to take on Slavia Prague in the competition's quarter finals next month, before a possible semi final against the winners of Benfica vs Eintracht Frankfurt.
Source : 90min