Sweden’s FA statement on alleged racist abuse against Manchester United’s Anthony Elanga
The Swedish Football Association has confirmed that Anthony Elanga has stated that he was racistly beaten in Sweden’s U21 match against Italy.
Manchester United’s Elanga, 19, is in international service with Sweden and the incident must have occurred on Tuesday.
Elanga started for Sweden in their U21 European Championship qualifier against Italy in Monza and while Sweden made a draw well into the stoppage time to ensure that the points were shared, the match was fraught with the alleged racist incident.
In a statement released after the match, the Swedish Football Association wrote: “Anthony Elanga has stated after the match that he has been subjected to a racist comment from an opponent in the Italian U21 national team.”
Sweden’s U21 manager Claes Eriksson revealed that his nation has submitted an oral report after Elanga’s complaint.
“We have told our version of what happened and have submitted an oral report to both the referees and the match delegates. We are now waiting for feedback through the match report and the referee report,” says Eriksson.
“Once they have arrived, we will decide how to proceed. Security chief Martin Fredman is also informed of what has happened. No one should have to be exposed to racism, that is completely unacceptable. We are all behind and support Anthony in this.”