Chelsea being ‘unfairly’ targeted over fan racism allegations, says Fabregas
Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has said that the club is being “unfairly” singled out for criticism due to the alleged racist behavior of a minority of fans, following further reports of abusive supporter chants.
A group of Chelsea fans were reportedly heard making anti-Semitic chants during the team’s Europa League game in Hungary on Thursday night.
That comes less than a week after a small group of fans were seen hurling abuse at Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling during a Premier League game, with one man accused of calling the England player “a f***ing black c***.”
Fabregas, 31, said that while he would be “happy” for Chelsea “to be taught a lesson” by punishing fans found guilty of racism, he felt the club was being singled out over the actions of a small minority.
"If we have to be taught a lesson at Chelsea to improve whatever happens around the world, then I'm happy,” the midfielder said, GOAL.com reported.
“But to point the finger at one football club because of three or four of these people, I don't think it's deserved, and I don't agree with that.
"It's easy to point now at the Chelsea supporters that did that. Unfortunately, this happens in many places. To point the finger at one football club, I think it's really unfair.
“There's an investigation, the club is dealing with this very, very well. Whatever needs to be done will be done. I've no doubt about that,” he added.
"When we cross the line with racism, it's too far, it shouldn't be allowed. The people that get caught, they will be punished, and they will be taught a big lesson in their lives. I hope this will help for many other reasons in life," the Spain international added.
"All I can say is when I'm in the street, when I'm at Stamford Bridge, all over the world when we've traveled with Chelsea, they've been amazing to me and to the team.
"This is not the real face of Chelsea. I'm sorry to hear that. If something happened, it will be dealt with. The focus now is on Chelsea for what happened.
“Unfortunately, if we look around carefully all over the world, all sports, all football clubs, we will find things like that. The quicker we get rid of these people, the better."
Fabregas captained the team that drew 2-2 against MOL Vidi in Budapest in the final Europa League group stage game, with Chelsea having already qualified for the knockout stages.
The game was marred by the reports of a section of Chelsea fans making anti-Semitic chants that included the line:"Barcelona, Real Madrid, Tottenham are a bunch of Yids... Yiddos."
The club issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the taunts as “abhorrent” and accusing the fans behind them of lacking “brainpower.”
UEFA has said it will await the referee’s report before deciding on whether to take action.
London’s Metropolitan Police are looking into the reports of racist abuse against Sterling at the weekend, which has prompted widespread debate on the levels of abuse footballers endure.
