Anthony Elanga faced racial abuse during Manchester United’s FA Cup penalty shootout loss to Middlesbrough.
Elanga missed the vital spot-kick that would have sent Boro through and had to be consoled as he walked down the tunnel by his older teammates.
The 19-year-old received hateful, racist insults on Instagram following the game, and according to Sky Sports, a spokeswoman for Meta, the company that runs Instagram, acknowledged that some remarks directed against Elanga had to be deleted, and an investigation is now underway.
After the game, Man United manager Ralf Rangnick was supportive of the player, saying: “You could see that they [the players] supported him and everybody supported him.
“This has happened to more experienced players than him. It’s a big shame for him but also for the whole club, for the supporters, for the team, because we did well in the last couple of weeks. We trained well, we played well in the first half especially and we are, therefore, very disappointed at the moment.”
Marcus Rashford, who received similar racist abuse following England’s penalty shootout loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 finals, also shared the same comment on social media: “Anthony Elanga. Get that head of yours up immediately.”
