Following the Lilywhites’ 2-1 Premier League victory over Liverpool at the weekend, Tottenham Hotspur issued a statement
denouncing the racial taunts thrown towards left-back Destiny Udogie.
Son Heung-min’s goal and a dramatic Joel Matip own goal, either side of Cody Gakpo’s equalizer, helped Ange Postecoglou’s team maintain their perfect league record on Saturday.
Spurs’ victory, however, was marred by a number of instances of questionable refereeing, as Liverpool lost both Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota to red cards in North London.
Gakpo, who was injured in a challenge by Udogie before scoring, had been replaced at halftime by Jota. The Portuguese player received a booking for pulling Udogie down from behind.
Although Udogie seemed to trip over his own feet, Jota’s penalty was upheld, and the Reds forward was later sent off for scything down the Italian player once more just before Spurs secured a thrilling victory.
Following the hosts’ narrow victory, Udogie became the target of despicable racial slurs and monkey emojis on social media. Tottenham has stated that they will cooperate with the Premier League to track down any offenders.
“We are disgusted at the racist messages directed towards Destiny Udogie on social media following Saturday’s game against Liverpool,” the North London club said in a statement.
The North London team released a statement saying, “We are disgusted at the racist messages directed towards Destiny Udogie on social media following Saturday’s game against Liverpool.”
We will collaborate with the Premier League and, when appropriate, take legal action against anyone we can name. Destiny, we are on your side.
Udogie, who joined Tottenham in a €18 million (£15.6 million) signing in the summer after leaving Udinese, has performed admirably in his first full season with the club. He will return to Udinese on loan for the 2022–23 campaign.
The 20-year-old has contributed two assists in seven Premier League starts for Postecoglou’s team, who are now ranked second in the standings with 17 points out of a possible 21 this season.
In addition to losing Jones to a straight red card for a challenge on Yves Bissouma before to Jota’s dismissal, Liverpool also had a goal by Luis Diaz erroneously disallowed for offside owing to “significant human error.”
Following the “unacceptable” error at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which halted the Reds’ seven-game winning streak and 19-match unbeaten streak, Liverpool has disclosed that they are looking into a number of possibilities.
