Spartak Moscow accused of racism against their own player after ‘see how chocolate melts in the sun’ tweet

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Russian club Spartak Moscow have landed themselves in the middle of a racism storm after they posted a video of some black members of their squad training in the sunshine with the caption “see how chocolate melts in the sun”.

The tweet was posted on Saturday morning at 9.16am from the club’s official and verified Twitter account.

Spartak were immediately condemned on social media and urged to delete the tweet and apologise for what was described as Twitter users as an outright racist comment.

It is also the second time Spartak have been involved in a racism scandal after Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster was subjected to racist attacks while playing there in a Uefa Youth League match in December.

Liverpool made an official complaint to Uefa against the club over the treatment of their 17-year-old striker and Spartak had to partially close their academy stadium for their next Uefa Youth League fixture, leaving 500 seats empty..

Anti-discriminatory body Kick It Out said: "This social media post from the official account of Spartak Moscow only continues to highlight the prejudices towards black people in Russia.

"With the World Cup only a few months away, it is a reminder that Russia - as with the whole of football - has significant work to do to eradicate racism of all forms from the game."

This latest racism story coming out of Russia will again raise concerns in a year that the country is preparing to welcome players of all nationalities, race and religion when the World Cup kicks off in June.