FIFA open investigation into alleged racial insult towards Antonio Rudiger

FIFA have opened an investigation into an alleged racism incident, after Antonio Rudiger claimed that he was racially abused by Pachuca defender Gustavo Cabral. The Argentine central defender has defended his innocence, following Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over the Mexican side.

The two had a coming together in the box, with Rudiger claiming a penalty against Cabral for a flailing hand in the box. The pair continued to debate the matter though, and when the referee came to intervene, Rudiger became more irate, and would not calm down.

Referee activates racism protocol

That took on a much more serious context when it emerged that the referee had activated the racism protocol. Rudiger claims that Carbal called him a ‘black s***’, and Cabral could be facing a minimum 10-game ban, or a suspension for a period of time. Speaking to the press after the game, Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso confirmed this sequence of events to MD after the match.

“We support Toni. We’ll see. Now the FIFA protocol will be activated and they will investigate. If this happened, we support Antonio; it’s unacceptable. There’s no tolerance for that.”

Gustavo Cabral’s defence

After the match, Pachuca defender Eduardo Bauermann confirmed that Rudiger had told him that Cabral had racially insulted him. Cabral was keen to deny this was the case though, and gave his version of events, also to MD.

“It was an argument. The referee signalled racism, but nothing happened. It’s a word we use a lot in Argentina: ‘f****** coward.’ I kept saying the same thing to him. If you want to look for the words, you’ll see in the images that I’m constantly saying ‘f****** coward, get up.’”

Pachuca manager backs Cabral

Meanwhile Pachuca manager Jaime Lozano explained that he would be speaking to Cabral, but was confident that the veteran defender had not stooped to racial abuse.

“I’ll talk to him, and knowing him from before, things like that have never happened with Pachuca players. I can put my neck on the line for my captain.”