Arsenal news: Alex Iwobi racially abused on social media after missing chance against Everton
The 20-year-old winger missed a chance to equalise late on at Goodison Park
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Alex Iwobi has revealed that he was racially abused after failing to score in the final minutes of Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at Everton on Tuesday night.
The Nigeria international was presented with a chance to equalise in the dying moments, but saw his effort cleared off the line by Leighton Baines.
Despite a dramatic final minute, with both sides going close to scoring, Ronald Koeman’s men hung on to claim a valuable three points and inflict Arsenal’s second Premier League defeat of the season.
Iwobi, who scored his first goal for the Gunners in a 2-0 win at Goodison Park in March, later uploaded screenshots of criticism he had received from his own supporters to social media.
One user, who Iwobi chose not to identify wrote: “wtf? Please just go back to Nigeria.”
Iwobi captioned the image, writing: “But you see people like this… Lemme not talk too much.”
The 20-year-old winger, who broke into Arsene Wenger’s first-team earlier this year, also chose to highlight the comments of one supporter who defended him from criticism.
“That weren’t an easy chance he had players all around him and needed to act fast so placed it to the left,” the unidentified fan wrote.
“Unlucky for him Baines was there but that doesn’t mean he’s awful. It was on target and he tried.”
Iwobi wrote in response: “People like this I respect… I tried but was unfortunate I apologise.”
Last year, a report into the racial abuse of footballers on social media and other online platforms found 134,440 discriminatory posts had been made from August 2014 to March 2015.
The research led Kick It Out, football’s anti-discrimination organisation, to call for authorities and internet companies to consider taking action against abusive posts.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments