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Brentford have condemned the “barrage” of racist abuse sent to striker Ivan Toney over social media after he scored the equaliser in Saturday’s draw with Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Toney scored a header on 74 minutes at the Emirates to cancel out Arsenal substitute Leandro Trossard‘s earlier strike, forcing a draw that sees the hosts drop points in the race for the Premier League title.
Brentford said in a statement on Sunday: “Immediately after Brentford’s game against Arsenal, Ivan Toney received a barrage of abusive, racist direct messages via his Instagram account.
“We are disgusted and saddened that Ivan has had to deal with this yet again.”
Arsenal also condemned the abuse, adding they are taking actions to deal with the racist abuse.
“We stand with Ivan Toney and are working with Brentford to identify those who sent racist abuse,” the north London club said in a statement.
“At Arsenal we condemn all forms of discrimination and take a zero tolerance approach. We will apply the strongest possible action to anyone we can identify sending hateful messages.”
Toney’s goal sparked outrage from Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, with Brentford defender Christian Norgaard being in an offside position before assisting the equaliser.
Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body responsible for match officials across English football, admitted on Sunday the goal should have been ruled offside and was one of two “significant” VAR offside errors.