Manchester City fan makes monkey gestures and noises at Fred as more than one Manchester United player reports they were were racially abused during the derby
- The footage captured by Sky Sports appears to show the disgusting behaviour
- Sportsmail understands the incident was seen by Manchester United officials
- They then passed it on to stewards who reported it to the control centre
- Manchester City and Kick It Out have released statements on the incident
More than one Manchester United player is understood to have reported that they were racially abused, after a Manchester City fan was spotted making monkey noises and gestures in the direction of midfielder Fred in Saturday’s derby.
The footage of the incident involving Fred was captured by Sky Sports’ cameras during United’s 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium which appeared to show a man directing his disgusting actions towards the Brazilian.
Sportsmail understands the incident was seen by Man Utd officials on their phones and passed on to stewards who reported it to the control centre where all the CCTV is.
Footage appears to show a Manchester City fan making monkey gestures at Fred
The Manchester United midfielder was subjected to gestures as well from the supporter
The fan was there for a while afterwards but it is unclear at this stage if he left or was kicked out, but both Manchester City and the police are looking to identify the man involved.
Fred had already been struck on the neck by an object thrown by a Manchester City fan when he went to go and take a corner for his side.
But the horrific actions continued and it now believed that more than one player suffered racist abuse in the game.
Manchester City insist they are aware of the situation and will help with enquiries
The incident occured nearly a year to the day that Raheem Sterling faced similar unsavoury abuse at Stamford Bridge from a fan who Chelsea banned permanently from the ground in July.
Manchester City released a statement after Saturday’s game and stated: ‘Manchester City FC are aware of a video circulating on social media which appears to show a supporter making racial gestures during the second half of the match against Manchester United this evening.
‘Officials from the Club are working with Greater Manchester Police in order to help them identify any individuals concerned and assist with their enquiries.
‘The club are also working with GMP regarding an instance of objects being thrown onto the field of play.
Fred had been hit with an object thrown from the crowd in the Manchester derby
‘The club operates a zero tolerance policy regarding discrimination of any kind, and anyone found guilty of racial abuse will be banned from the club for life.’
Pep Guardiola also stated that he endorsed his club’s statement and added: ‘Hopefully they are going to solve it. I’m pretty sure the club and the police will take the right decision so it doesn’t happen again.
‘It’s a battle every day. It happens in many places and hopefully it can’t happen again.’
But the awful incident did not prevent his side from securing a victory over their neighbours
Marcus Rashford was asked after United’s victory if he had heard about the chanting at Fred, and he replied: ‘It can happen and I think in recent times we’ve been dealing with it better but it shouldn’t happen.’
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was rather more scathing in his assessment of the incident, and urged City to ban him from the ground because ‘he shouldn’t be watching football.’
‘Fred and Jesse were in the corner taking coins so they’ve got to go away and there’s this not so intelligent player chanting racist abuse.
‘I hope City ban him because he shouldn’t be watching football. He should not be allowed back into a ground. We keep talking about it but we have to stamp it out.’
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has stated the fan should be banned and shouldn’t be watching football
Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards called the actions ‘disheartening’ and believes that while the whole ground should not be blamed, no player should feel judged by the colour of their skin.
He told Sky Sports: ‘It’s difficult because social media’s so back nowadays. Maybe ten years ago that wouldn’t have been seen.
‘You can’t blame the whole ground, you can’t blame Man City, it’s just one fan. You shouldn’t be judged by the colour of your skin or gender. It’s just disheartening.
Former Manchester City right-back Micah Richards called the incident ‘disheartening’
Kick It Out have also tweeted that they will be in contact with the clubs after posting a tweet on social media.
It read: ‘We have been inundated with reports of alleged racist abuse from a number of individuals during this evenings Manchester Derby.
‘We will be contacting both clubs to offer our support and hope swift action is taken to identify the offenders.’
