Man City U-21s abandon match over alleged racism
Manchester City's Under-21 players walked off from a pre-season match in Croatia after one of their players allegedly suffered racial abuse.
City's youngsters were playing against HNK Rijeka when French youngster Seko Fofana was sent off for kicking out at an opponent.
However, Fofana was believed to be retaliating to a racial insult, prompting U21 coach Patrick Vieira to intervene and subsequently lead his charges from the field of play - a move that was later endorsed by senior team manager Manuel Pellegrini, who is in Kansas with the senior team.
The Manchester club released a statement which read: "Manchester City's EDS U21 game with HNK Rijeka has today been cancelled due to an alleged incident of racial abuse toward the club's young midfielder, Seko Fofana by a member of the opposing team.
"Following an alleged incident in the latter stages of the first half of the game, being played in Novigrad, Croatia, a decision was taken by the management staff to withdraw the City team from the field of play and cancel the game.
"Club representatives in Croatia and in Manchester are liaising with officials, the match organisers and the Croatian Football Association to pursue this matter further."
Rijeka have since released their own statement saying that the club "are very unpleasantly surprised by the serious and unfounded allegations, which we entirely reject".
Sources: BBC, The Guardian, Manchester City official website
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