Kurt Zouma falls victim to racist abuse after his own-goal prevented Chelsea all three points

The center-back is the latest player to have fallen victim to racist abuse which is rising at an alarming rate in Eiropean football.

English football is suffering from a recent rise in the incidents where players of a different skin color and ethnicity are constantly being met with vile racist abuse online, mainly on Twitter. The latest incident includes Chelsea center-back, Kurt Zouma, who was met with racist abuse on social media after his error in the 89th minute where he inadvertently guided the ball into his own net cost the Premier League outfit a victory against newly promoted side Sheffield United. 

Frank Lampard’s managerial stint with the Blues where he had established himself as a legend in his playing days has not started on a positive note, with only five points from four fixtures. The recent 2-2 draw against the Blades was particularly disappointing as Chelsea gave up a two goal lead and almost looked like securing all three points.

However, the gaffer was not pleased with the reports that suggested racist abuse had been directed towards the 24-year-old following his unfortunate error. The tactician spoke with reference to the incident and had this to say, “Firstly it is a person that does it, wherever they are hiding from, and secondly we have to look at social media and the platforms and give them some accountability to actually have people register who can be chased down for it. I think it is simple, until we get to that, and no matter how horrible that conversation is, we get tired talking about it.”

“Until there is some culpability, anyone can say anything to anyone. It's not just racism, it could be calling them names, homophobia, sexism, it could be anything. If we allow it, then unfortunately in modern society it is out there and it has to be dealt with,” added the 41-year-old.

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Another Chelsea player that was met with racist abuse online is Tammy Abraham, who missed the deciding penalty in the UEFA Super Cup 2019 fixture against Liverpool. These growing incidents has compelled Chelsea to meet up with social media platform representatives in order to eradicate this nuisance. Lampard confirmed this by saying that, “I think we have plans to do that. Everyone knows with how I speak and the way the club act consistently where we want to go with it. Any player, we are clear about that.”

Fellow Premier League outfit Manchester United had also indicated that they would meet up with social media representatives in order to curb the growing trend of racist abuse on social media after two of their players in Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba fell victim to it.