YAYA TOURE DESCRIBED RACIST ABUSE AS 'DISGRACE,SHAME AND IGNORANT'

Ivorian international and Manchester City FC playmaker, Yaya Touré has described the racist abuse he was subjected to on Twitter witter as a “disgrace” and urged officials to take action to stop it occurring in the future.

Greater Manchester police have confirmed they are investigating allegations that Touré was racially abused just hours after reactivating his Twitter account on Monday.

“GMP can confirm we have received a number of complaints regarding racist tweets directed at Manchester City player Yaya Touré on Monday 3 October 2014,” read a police statement on Tuesday. “Officers are currently investigating.”

In response, the Ivory Coast midfielder admitted he had been taken aback by some of the abuse.

“For me it’s a disgrace, to be honest,” Touré told BBC Sport. “We need to do something to try to tell people those kinds of behaviour have to stop. I want those people to understand what they’re doing is wrong.

“To have such aggression in sport, I can’t understand that. That’s why I’ve been trying to fight it,” added Touré.

“Football doesn't have a colour. We're just people from all over the world trying to enjoy the game. I never see this in rugby, I never see that in tennis or anything else, I don't know where it’s coming from.”

Touré posted another message on Twitter on Tuesday which made reference to the incident thus:

“For me it’s OK because I have experience but for young lads, who will maybe go on Twitter and find that, first they’ll be afraid, second they’ll close their account,” he said.

Asked if he found the abuse hurtful, Touré added: “To be honest with you, no, because I’ve been attacked like that for many years. [But] I will never stop telling them they are wrong and have to change.”

He later tweeted: “Thanks for all the welcome-back tweets and support. Shame about ignorant minority. StillFocused”.

Photo Credit: Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty

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