‘It’s ‘very unfair’ to make fans scapegoats for racism’

Cesc Fabregas believes it is “really unfair” to point the figure solely at Chelsea fans when it comes to the wider issue of racism in football.

The west London side hit out at the behaviour of a minority of supporters for the second time in a week after anti-Semitic chanting was heard during their Europa League game against Mol Vidi in Budapest.

In fact, it was fellow Chelsea supporters using social media who drew attention to a derogatory song aimed at rivals Tottenham which contained the word ‘Yid’.

The latest shameful scenes come after four Blues fans were accused of hurling racist abuse at Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling.

Two men have since come forward but deny using racist language.

And while Chelsea midfielder Fabregas was quick to condemn racism, he feels the problem is bigger than just one club.

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He said: “It’s easy to point now at the Chelsea supporters that did that.

“Unfortunately this happens in many places.

“It’s true it happened this weekend, we cannot deny that, but to point the finger at one football club because of that I think it’s really unfair.”

He continued: “There’s an investigation, the club is dealing with this very, very well.

“Whatever needs to be done will be done. I’ve no doubt about that.

“I don’t know who is responsible for these things but, once again, I cannot accept or I cannot agree with this.

“This happens to all football clubs.

“There’s always insults; I’ve had so many of them over the years when you warm up and even jokes. That’s fine for me. When we cross the line with racism, it’s too far, it shouldn’t be allowed.

“The people that get caught, they will be punished for it and they will be taught a big lesson in their lives. I hope this will help for many other reasons in life.

“I don’t want that image anywhere. I repeat: I think it’s really unfair to point the finger at one football club, just because of one, two, three, four people.

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“They don’t deserve to be in the stadium. We all agree about that.

“If that means or this helps in this situation for this not to happen somewhere else, all over the world, not only in football, any kind of sport or social life.”

However, Fabregas admitted he has no problem with Chelsea’s problems being used to tackle racism on a wider scale if it prompts change in the long run.

UEFA are awaiting the report from match referee Aleksandar Stavrev before deciding whether or not action is required from them.