Yaya Toure: Manuel Pellegrini claims Toure will not be affected by racist tweets aimed at him
Pellegrini backs the police to chase up the racist and abusive messages that were sent to the Manchester City midfielder following the Manchester derby win
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini does not think Yaya Toure's performance will be adversely affected by the racial abuse he has received online.
Police are investigating after the City midfielder was sent abusive tweets within hours of reactivating his Twitter account on Monday.
Ivory Coast international Toure withdrew from the social media site five months ago to focus on the World Cup but returned after City's derby victory over Manchester United at the weekend.
Some of the responses he received to the first message he posted were of an offensive racial nature, prompting anti-discriminatiry body Kick It Out to make an official complaint to police.
Pellegrini is confident Toure, 31, will be able to handle the situation.
The Chilean said: "I think Yaya is an experienced player. He is always trying to fight against those things but I don't think he will have any problem about that, to play in the way he knows (how) to do it.
"I read the news about what happened but I think the people in charge will do the right things."
The incident comes just over a year after Toure was the subject of racist chants from supporters during a Champions League group game at CSKA Moscow.
European governing body UEFA punished the Russian club for that, ordering them to play their next home game in the competition in a partially closed stadium.
Two further offences after that led to the Khimki Arena being completely closed when City visited again in this season's competition a fortnight ago. CSKA will also have no fans present when they play City in the return fixture at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
Greater Manchester Police have yet to issue a formal statement regarding the latest Toure matter but a tweet in response to a query about the matter confirmed the matter was under investigation.
It read: "Thank you - we are aware if (sic) this and are investigating."
Kick It Out expressed concern over the matter and confirmed it had been responsible for informing the police.
A statement read: "We received complaints about two separate tweets of a racist nature aimed at Yaya Toure yesterday evening.
"We have informed the police via True Vision, the online reporting facility, and have also alerted Twitter.
"Yaya Toure has been back on Twitter for a matter of hours and he has already received abuse of an appalling nature.
"We are disturbed by the fact that someone can be treated this way. It makes footballers start to question why they should use these platforms. We are offering Yaya Toure our full support."
PA
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments