Liverpool Under-18s walked off the pitch twice in successive days at a youth tournament in Germany after one of their players was allegedly racially abused.
Academy staff are providing support to the youngster involved and the Premier League club have urged organisers of the Bundesliga Cup in the city of Schwabisch Hall to conduct an investigation.
The first incident reportedly happened against Hoffenheim on Friday and the second when Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s side faced Frankfurt on Saturday.
During Friday’s game, the Liverpool player claimed he was called the N-word, prompting the team to leave the field. Hoffenheim later claimed that their player had used the German slang term ‘digga,’ meaning ‘bro’. Liverpool staff then approached tournament organisers and were promised, to avoid any confusion, that all teams had been informed that the use of the word would not be tolerated.
However, there were similar issues against Frankfurt on Saturday. In both instances the exact term used towards the Liverpool player is disputed.
A club statement read: “Liverpool 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.
“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 sporting director Timmo Hardung told German newspaper Bild “we can rule out racism” and claimed it had been a misunderstanding, with their player adamant he had used the slang term ‘digga’.
“It was a language issue and therefore hope to sort out the misunderstanding between the players and with the Liverpool staff,” Hardung added.
The Athletic has been told that Hoffenheim provided a similar explanation after Friday’s incident.
The alleged abuse in the second incident is understood to have been witnessed by a number of Liverpool players.
Liverpool Under-18s will be involved in the final day of the tournament on Sunday.
Hoffenheim have been contacted for comment.
(Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
