Liverpool’s Under-18s twice walk off pitch after alleged racism in friendly

The team walked off the pitch in successive days after two alleged incidents of racism against the same player

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Liverpool’s Under-18s walked off the pitch twice in successive days when a player alleged he was racially abused in Germany.

The team walked off during their opening match of the Bundesliga Cup youth tournament against Hoffenheim on Friday, before again leaving the pitch during a game against Frankfurt on Saturday. Both matches were abandoned.

The club have called for an “urgent and thorough” investigation and said the same player was twice targeted, leading to the team walking off in protest. Liverpool said it was “proud” of the player’s decision.

"Liverpool FC can confirm that a member of our under-18s team reported he was racially abused by an opponent while playing in the Bundesliga Cup youth tournament at Schwabisch Hall in Germany on Friday," a statement read.

"The player immediately alerted the match official, his team-mates and our coaching staff. Consequently, LFC’s management team decided to stop the game and leave the pitch together.

"In a further incident, the same player was the target of abuse during a fixture in the tournament today. Again, the player alerted his team-mates and coaching staff and our management team opted to leave the pitch once more.

“We are proud of our player for his prompt actions in reporting the incident and the maturity of his response. He and any of his team-mates affected are being supported by the academy safeguarding team.

“The club calls upon our opponents and the tournament organisers to conduct an urgent and thorough investigation into the incident.”

Frankfurt’s sporting director Timmo Hardung said the incident was a “misunderstanding” and was a “linguistic issue”. He said he had spoken to the player accused of racism, who claimed he had used a slang word commonly used in Germany and not a racist term.

He told German newspaper Bild: “We can rule out racism, it is a linguistic issue and we therefore hope that we have also cleared up the misunderstanding with the players concerned and those responsible at Liverpool FC."