Manchester United’s Anthony Martial was racially abused on social media for the second time this season after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Sunday , February 14.
Martial played 66 minutes before being replaced by Mason Greenwood as United came back to level against West Brom after going behind inside the first two minutes.
After the game, Martial was subjected to abuse on his Instagram account, with a number of users posting racist messages and using the N-word to comment on his photos.
The abuse comes barely weeks after Martial and his teammate Axel Tuanzebe were abused after the team’s loss to Sheffield United on January 27.
Last weekend, United joined Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton to issue a joint statement condemning racist abuse as more players were targeted on social media.
In response, Instagram announced it will impose stricter penalties including the removal of accounts to prevent abusive messages on its platform.
Earlier on Sunday, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville ordered social media companies to delete and deactivate accounts found to be directing this type of abuse at footballers.
Neville told Sky Sports: ‘Social media has become a vehicle for a lot of abuse, but there’s been a lot of abuse in football stadiums over the last 15 to 20 years as well. It’s not just social media.
‘It’s a positive when used correctly as football stadiums are in full flow. Every arena can be negative. Football stadiums can be negative, social media can be negative.
‘There’s an accountability on social media, people think when they’re behind phones they are protected. They need to remove that protection and be made accountable for what they say in the same way if they had said that to somebody in the street.’
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