The CSKA Moscow boss has hit out at the ‘overreaction’ following the racist abuse suffered by Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure.
The Ivorian was subjected to monkey chants when City took on CSKA away from home and, prior to tonight’s return fixture, the Russian boss refused to apologise.
The manager tried to evade questions regarding the incident – which led UEFA to rule that CSKA must play their next fixture in a partially closed stadium – but eventually made a statement.
“It is normal we are against racism in our team,” Leonid Slutsky said.
“We have black players and we give them support. We did not hear any racist chants [so] it is difficult to comment.
“The club is categorically against racism but we think the situation has been very exaggerated and there was an overreaction. We have received our punishment – it was up to UEFA to impose it.”
While Slutsky chose not to apologise for the fans, CSKA captain Serge Ignashevich, issued a statement expressing regret for the chants that Toure endured.
“We are sorry that such unpleasant incident took place,” said Ignashevich.
The racist chanting occurred in the Blues’ 2-1 victory and the CSKA captain, while remorseful, expressed his dissatisfaction that fans will not be able to see the club’s next European home game against Bayern Munich.
Ignashevich added: “We are very sorry some of the fans won’t be at this game but at the moment we are thinking about the [City] game.”
In the press conference there was no confirmation that CSKA would not appeal against the UEFA’s verdict but Slutsky indicated the club will abide by the ruling.
Slutsky said: “That is a question for the bosses in our club – I do not deal with appeals, the sooner we finish [speaking about it the better].”
Image courtesy of ITV via YouTube, with thanks
For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.
