Man Utd ‘disgusted’ by online racist abuse towards Pogba after penalty miss

Manchester United say they are “working to identify” those responsible for the racist abuse directed at midfielder Paul Pogba on social media.

Pogba, 26, had a penalty saved during the 1-1 draw with Wolves on Monday.

He is the third player in a week – after Yakou Meite of Reading and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham – to have racist abuse directed at him on social media following a penalty miss.

United said they are “disgusted” by the abuse and “utterly condemn” it.

“The individuals who expressed these views do not represent the values of our great club and it is encouraging to see the vast majority of our fans condemn this on social media also,” read a United statement.

“Manchester United has zero tolerance of any form of racism or discrimination and a long-standing commitment to campaigning against it through our #AllRedAllEqual initiative.

“We will work to identify the few involved in these incidents and take the strongest course of action available to us. We also encourage social media companies to take action in these cases.”

On Sunday, Reading striker Yakou Meite called out racist abuse sent via social media after his spot-kick was saved.

Ivory Coast forward Meite, 23, came on as a substitute against Cardiff and missed a 91st-minute penalty.

Last week, Chelsea condemned “abhorrent posts” aimed at Tammy Abraham after his Super Cup final miss against Liverpool.

Blues boss Frank Lampard said he was “disgusted” by the abuse aimed at the 21-year-old England forward and suggested social media companies must do more to stop players being targeted.

Others fans quickly condemned the tweets containing racist abuse that were sent to Pogba – who won the penalty he then missed – shortly after full-time at Molineux on Monday.

Some tweets were later deleted while several accounts appeared to have been taken down.

Twitter’s terms and conditions say it “takes action against behaviour that targets individuals with hateful conduct”.

In July, anti-racism charity Kick It Out produced a report that showed reports of racist abuse increased by 43 per cent last season, with 274 cases compared with 192 the previous season.