Bayern Munich denounces racial abuse directed toward Kingsley Coman after France’s World Cup final defeat
CNN
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Bayern Munich has denounced the racial abuse directed toward French player Kingsley Coman following France’s World Cup final defeat on Sunday.
The Bundesliga title-holders say Coman, who had his penalty saved by Argentina keeper Emiliano Martínez in the match’s shootout, was racially abused online. Argentina won the final 4-2 on penalties after the match ended 3-3 following extra time.
Coman has been with Bayern since 2015.
“FC Bayern strongly condemn the racist comments made towards Kingsley Coman,” the club tweeted on Monday. “The FC Bayern family is behind you, King. Racism has no place in sport or our society.”
Coman’s last post on Instagram, issued after the World Cup semifinal last week, shows multiple comments supporting the forward and using the hashtag “#StopRacism.”
When asked about the abuse levied at Coman and other players on the platform, a spokesperson for Instagram’s parent company Meta said the company were in touch with undisclosed players and teams.
“We’ve removed these disgusting comments for breaking our rules,” the spokesperson said.
“We want to protect people from this abuse in the first place, which is why we’ve developed features like Hidden Words, which filters offensive comments and DMs, and Limits, which hides comments and DMs from people who don’t follow you or only followed you recently.
“We’ve been in touch with players and their teams throughout to offer support and help them use these tools,” the spokesperson said.
Coman scored the winning goal in the 2020 Champions League final to as Bayern beat PSG 1-0 in Lisbon.
Last year after England’s Euro 2020 final penalty shootout defeat by Italy last year, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka suffered racist abuse after missing penalties.
