Chelsea star Hudson-Odoi ‘racially abused by Dynamo Kiev fans’ during Europa League clash
18-year-old Callum Hudson Odoi allegedly received monkey chants from the home crowd during the Blue's 5-0 victory
CHELSEA star Callum Hudson-Odoi was “racially abused by Dynamo Kiev fans” during the Blues Europa League clash in Ukraine last week.
The 18-year-old winger was allegedly on the receiving end of sickening monkey chants from the home crowd during the Blue’s 5-0 victory.
The Stamford Bridge club have now revealed that they have submitted an official complaint to UEFA after the England star reported the shocking incident.
Hudson-Odoi heard and witnessed the events in the second-half and informed his captain Cesar Azpilicueta, who told referee Tobias Stieler when the match ended.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck and club secretary David Barnard, in turn, then instantly notified UEFA who are now investigating the matter.
Hudson-Odoi, who also scored his fourth goal in the Europa League on the night, decided not to make the abuse public after being satisfied with how Chelsea reacted.
Chelsea issued a club statement:
“We can confirm a report of racist abuse directed at one of our players in the final minutes of the match in Kiev from a small section of home supporters. We wholeheartedly condemn such abhorrent behaviour.
“The matter was reported to the referee at the final whistle and the chairman and club secretary spoke to the UEFA match delegate immediately after the match.
“We expect UEFA to conduct a fulsome investigation and we will provide full cooperation.’
The Chelsea star reportedly wished to just return home with the rest of his squad as he didn’t want the story to put a stain on the club’s impressive victory.
However, both the club and the player always intended to reveal the incident to the public and UEFA are now likely to take action against the Ukrainian side.
The horrifying abuse took place two minutes before the end of the match in the corner of the end Chelsea were attacking in the second half.
The incident took place after a group of Dynamo’s Ultra supporters had already attempted to invade the pitch during the game.
This is not the first time Dynamo fans have been accused of racist abuse, with the governing body expected to come down hard on those inside the NSK Olimpiyskiy stadium.
Everton lodged a similar complaint after a Europa League tie in 2015 that resulted in the club playing the quarter-final home leg that year in a partially closed stadium.
Chelsea’s 8-0 aggregate thrashing of Dynamo saw them ease through to the quarter-finals, where they will face Czech side, SK Slavia Prague.
