Abramovich ‘requesting reports’ on Chelsea progress with finding fans behind anti-Semitic chants

Chelsea football club's billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich has requested personal updates on the club’s efforts to stamp out racism following anti-Semitic chants by fans on Thursday, according to reports.

A group of Chelsea fans were allegedly heard singing an anti-Semitic chant that included the line "Barcelona, Real Madrid, Tottenham are a bunch of Yids... Yiddos," during the team’s Europa League tie at MOL Vidi in Hungary.     

It came less than a week after several Chelsea supporters were seen hurling abuse at Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling during the teams’ encounter at Stamford Bridge. One Blues fan is alleged to have called Sterling a “f***ing black c***.”

Billionaire club owner Abramovich, who is Jewish, “has requested reports” on Chelsea’s progress with tracking down the fans allegedly behind Thursday’s chants, according to The Times.

The club is understood to have requested CCTV footage from the Hungarian team to help identify those responsible.

After the reports first emerged Chelsea immediately condemned the chants as “abhorrent” and accused the fans behind them of lacking “brainpower.”      

"Anti-Semitism and any kind of racial or religious hatred is abhorrent to this club and the overwhelming majority of our fans," a spokesperson said.

After the incident involving England international Sterling last weekend the club moved to slap four fans with “indefinite bans” while investigations continue. London’s Metropolitan Police are also looking into the case.

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas said after the game in Budapest that "if we have to be taught a lesson at Chelsea to improve whatever happens around the world, then I'm happy.”

But he added: “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.”

READ MORE: Chelsea being ‘unfairly’ targeted over fan racism allegations, says Fabregas

Chelsea have previously vowed to send any fans found guilty of racism on an educational trip to the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland.

READ MORE: Chelsea to send racist fans on educational trip to Auschwitz death camp

Abramovich is said to have been a driving force behind the club’s efforts to crack down on racist behavior such as anti-Semitic chants.

The magnate has however not visited a game in England this season, after facing visa problems in the wake of the Skripal spy poisoning scandal between Russia and the UK.