CHELSEA MIDFIELDER ORIOL Romeu says Juan Mata and Fernando Torres did not hear an alleged racial remark from referee Mark Clattenburg.
Romeu, 21, was an unused substitute as Chelsea suffered a 3-2 loss to Manchester United in the English Premier League on Sunday.
His Spanish team-mate Mata is among the players said to have taken offence to some of the language used by Clattenburg during the game.
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The key exchange, however, occurred between Clattenburg and John Obi Mikel immediately after Javier Hernandez’s 75th-minute winner, during which the Nigerian was booked for dissent.
According to Romeu, Chelsea’s Spaniards were not aware of any comment at the time.
“Neither Juan nor Fernando told me they heard it because from what I have understood they didn’t hear anything,” Romeu told Spanish radio station Cope.
It was someone else who heard it, but not directly at them. It was another player who heard it and that is what they told me.
I didn’t hear anything as I left quickly to go home but after talking to Juan he told me there was some problem and he had to stay.
I only know Chelsea made a complaint and I think there could really be a problem if what Chelsea players say happened really happened.
The incident is the latest in a string of controversies involving racism in football over the past 12 months, including the Football Association finding both Luis Suarez and John Terry guilty of racial abuse.
Dissatisfaction with some of the game’s leading anti-discrimination campaigns, most notably Kick It Out, has been voiced by a number of high-profile players.
Clattenburg will not be officiating a game this upcoming weekend as the FA continue their inquiry into Sunday’s incident in response to the formal complaint lodged by Chelsea.
Romeu is confident the issue will be dealt with appropriately.
“We know in this country people are very vigilant about these issues,” he said.”If there was really a racist comment or something said against a Spanish player this will be serious.”
I don’t believe for a minute he will be found guilty of a racist comment. It makes no sense. He may have said something insulting to Mikel having taken a lot of abuse and insults himself but I doubt it was racist. It seems if you say something at all to a black person these days it is racist in nature. About time we stopped pandering to this nonsense.
On another point, I heard talk of quotas being brought in for black coaches. This is even more ridiculous. If you take the premiership, white footballers are well under represented, in other words there are far more black players as a percentage in the premiership than within Britain as a whole. Should there be a quota to up the number of white players in the premiership. Of course not!
Football is a great equaliser, if you are good enough as a player or a coach, you get the job, end of story. Does anyone seriously think a club or supporters would prefer to finish third in the league with white players and a white coach over winning the premiership with a black coach.
About time we put a stop to all this nonsense and reclaimed a bit of common sense.
Y are u guys jumping into conclusion about his innocence? Why did he ref the game in that manner? British referees are the worst in europe! They are all man united fans from childhood! German refs are the best! They drop emotional affiliation to clubs when on duty! The EPL needs foreign refs! Remember aguero cried out recently that if a foreign player falls, they S̤̥̈̊ay its a dive-suarez, torres, aguero, but if its a british player falls esp man U , they give a penalty-welbeck, young! Yet TV replays have shown how wrong the EPL refs are towards foreigners! Call a spade a spade pls
I think it is highly unlikely he called Mikel a Monkey but the full investigation hasn’t been done and maybe I will be proved wrong, I have an open mind in that regard.
I think your point about divers refers more to a Man U bias than an anti foreigner one. There is no doubt in my mind that Fergie influences refs more than anyone else and teams playing Man U don’t get a fair crack of the whip. When the foreign Ronaldo played for Man U for example, he dived all over the place and got away with it.
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I don’t believe for a minute he will be found guilty of a racist comment. It makes no sense. He may have said something insulting to Mikel having taken a lot of abuse and insults himself but I doubt it was racist. It seems if you say something at all to a black person these days it is racist in nature. About time we stopped pandering to this nonsense.
On another point, I heard talk of quotas being brought in for black coaches. This is even more ridiculous. If you take the premiership, white footballers are well under represented, in other words there are far more black players as a percentage in the premiership than within Britain as a whole. Should there be a quota to up the number of white players in the premiership. Of course not!
Football is a great equaliser, if you are good enough as a player or a coach, you get the job, end of story. Does anyone seriously think a club or supporters would prefer to finish third in the league with white players and a white coach over winning the premiership with a black coach.
About time we put a stop to all this nonsense and reclaimed a bit of common sense.
Y are u guys jumping into conclusion about his innocence? Why did he ref the game in that manner? British referees are the worst in europe! They are all man united fans from childhood! German refs are the best! They drop emotional affiliation to clubs when on duty! The EPL needs foreign refs! Remember aguero cried out recently that if a foreign player falls, they S̤̥̈̊ay its a dive-suarez, torres, aguero, but if its a british player falls esp man U , they give a penalty-welbeck, young! Yet TV replays have shown how wrong the EPL refs are towards foreigners! Call a spade a spade pls
I think it is highly unlikely he called Mikel a Monkey but the full investigation hasn’t been done and maybe I will be proved wrong, I have an open mind in that regard.
I think your point about divers refers more to a Man U bias than an anti foreigner one. There is no doubt in my mind that Fergie influences refs more than anyone else and teams playing Man U don’t get a fair crack of the whip. When the foreign Ronaldo played for Man U for example, he dived all over the place and got away with it.
Chelsea jumping on the racism bandwagon. Seems to be the new McCarthyism over there. LOad of rubbish, hope the ref comes out ok from the mad hysteria
sour grapes, from a liverpool fan