LONDON, England (Reuters) – Chelsea apologised yesterday to the man who was racially abused by their fans before a Champions League match and team manager Jose Mourinho spoke of his shame over the incident. Supporters of the Premier League club were caught on camera preventing a black man, identified only as Souleymane, from boarding a metro train and chanting racist comments before the 1-1 draw at Paris St Germain on Tuesday.
“I would like to make clear on behalf of everyone at the club our disgust with regard to the incident that took place on the Paris subway on Tuesday evening,” Chelsea communications director Steve Atkins said in a statement. “We were appalled by what we saw.
The club would also like to apologise unreservedly to Souleymane for the behaviour of a small number of individuals and their unforgivable actions towards him.” Chelsea have invited Souleymane and his family to watch the last-16 return leg against PSG at Stamford Bridge next month.
“I think he would watch not only the game, but he would feel what Chelsea is,” Mourinho told reporters.
“At this moment he will have the wrong idea of what Chelsea is. He would feel that the people who did this action with him are not Chelsea,” the Portuguese added.
“We feel ashamed but maybe we shouldn’t because I refuse to be connected with these people.” Mourinho said his multi-cultural squad were affected by the incident. “The dressing-room reacted the way I react, with disappointment … but always with the feeling that we do not belong to these people and they do not belong to us,” Mourinho added.
Chelsea have been cooperating fully with the London and Paris police in their ongoing investigation and will continue to do so.
“We have also been conducting our own investigation and all information from that is being shared with the police,” Atkins added.
“We announced last night that we have suspended three individuals from Stamford Bridge pending the completion of the investigation.
“Should evidence show they are guilty the club will ban them for life.”
The United Nations (UN) said it had been working with world and European soccer governing bodies FIFA and UEFA to tackle racism in the sport.
“The events in the Richelieu-Drouot Metro station in Paris show that much work remains to be done before racism is truly eradicated from sport, let alone from society at large,” the UN said in a statement.
(By Sam Holden)
