Sterling, Walker racially abused online after CL final defeat
Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker received racist abuse on social media shortly after Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea in the Champions League final.
A number of monkey emojis were posted on both players’ Instagram profiles following the final whistle at the Estadio do Dragao on Saturday evening.
Sky Sports News has contacted Facebook, which owns Instagram, for a response to the abuse.
Sterling has been subjected to online abuse on several occasions, including earlier in May following City’s Champions League semi-final win over Paris Saint-Germain.
That incident came just two days after the sporting community engaged in a weekend-long social media boycott where broadcasters, clubs, teams and players came off their platforms in protest over rising levels of discrimination.
Following City’s Carabao Cup final win over Tottenham last month, Walker shared a message on his Instagram story which featured racist abuse and he wrote “When is this going to stop?” while also tagging Instagram in his post.
The abuse of Sterling and Walker comes after their England team-mate Marcus Rashford said he had received “at least 70 racial slurs” on his Twitter account following Manchester United’s loss in the Europa League final against Villarreal.
Some of Rashford’s clubmates including David de Gea were also targeted with online hate and Greater Manchester Police are investigating the insults which were directed at members of United’s squad after Wednesday’s match.
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