Manchester United star Fred hit out at the “backward society” we live in after the midfielder was allegedly racially abused and struck by a lighter in his team’s 2-1 derby win over Manchester City on Sunday.
A video broadcasted on live television showed a Manchester City supporter appearing to make racial gestures in the direction of Fred and his team-mate Jesse Lingard in the Premier League showdown at the Etihad Stadium this weekend.
The incident took place when Fred went to take a corner in the second half, and a series of objects were also being hurled towards the Brazilian midfielder.
Manchester City released a statement to say they are working closely along with the Greater Manchester Police and have vowed to ban for life any supporter found guilty of racism inside the stadium.
The United midfielder Fred confirmed that he was hit by a missile and is eager for the matter to be dealt as soon as possible with but does not want to give attention to the perpetrators that made those chants and hurled objects towards him.
While speaking to reporters after the game Fred opened up about the incident and admitted that it’s a shame that we still live in a backward society, “Unfortunately we are still in a backward society, [It’s a shame] we still have to live with that in 2019. On the field I didn’t see anything; I only saw it in the locker room afterward. The guys showed me. [Someone] even threw a lighter and it hit me. I try not to care about that. I try to look ahead. Unfortunately, this is happening in some stadiums. It happened here, it happened in Ukraine with some friends. It’s sad, but we have to keep our heads up and forget about that. We can’t give them any attention because that’s all they want. I spoke to the referee after the match, they will do something about it and that’s all.”
