Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri says he was the subject of alleged racist abuse during the side’s Championship match with Preston.
The Deepdale contest ended goalless after 90 minutes but a heated clash at the start of the second half, involving Mejbri and Preston’s Milutin Osmajic, has threatened to overshadow the game.
Footage of the coming together appeared to show Mejbri upset by something the Montenegro international had said to him during the exchange.
Mejbri then proceeded to speak at length with Burnley head coach Scott Parker on the touchline, with the latter revealing that the 22-year-old had been left ‘distressed’.
Burnley have since confirmed that the alleged remark made by Osmajic had been reported to referee Andrew Kitchen and his officiating team both before and after the final whistle.
In an official statement, the Clarets said they were thankful for the ‘professional handling’ of the incident, while stating that no further comment would be made while the matter was being investigated.
A club statement read: ‘Burnley Football Club is aware of an alleged comment made to Hannibal by Milutin Osmajic during our game against Preston North End which was reported to officials both during and after the game.
‘During the second-half Hannibal made referee Andrew Kitchen aware of the comment who has registered the complaint.
‘The club would like to thank the officials for their professional handling of the incident.
‘The club will continue to show its complete support to Hannibal and there will be no further comment made until the investigation has been completed.’
A separate statement on Preston’s official website said that Osmajic ‘strongly refuted the claims of a racist comment made towards’ Mejbri.
Shortly after the final whistle, Mejbri took to social media to ‘call out racism’ in all forms, underlining that no player should have to face instances of ‘disgusting’ abuse.
‘I will not be silent about what happened today,’ the young Tunisia international, formerly of Manchester United, wrote on his Instagram page.
‘I will always call out racism whenever I hear or see it.
‘That is the only way we change as a sport and a society.
‘I am a strong person but nobody should have to experience this disgusting abuse on the pitch.’
In his post-match interview with Sky Sports, Burnley boss Parker praised the officials for their ‘brilliant’ handling of the incident.
‘It was just something that was said to Hannibal, something inappropriate which he’s reported,’ the ex-England and West Ham midfielder said.
‘We could clearly see he was very distressed in that moment and we tried to firstly get some context of what exactly has happened, because he was obviously very emotional. We tried to get some context on exactly what happened.
‘He explained to me what was said and at that moment, it was a case of just finding how he is and where he was in his headspace and what he wanted us to do.
‘It will go down to process now, so we’ll see. But I thought the officials were brilliant in terms of how they dealt with it. I thought they were spot on. I thought the way they handled it and dealt with the whole situation was first-class to them.’