With both Liverpool and Manchester United in Moscow to face Spartak and CSKA respectively in the Champions League group stages, security was a major issue ahead of the games.
Yesterday, we relayed claims from Russia that over 5000 law enforcement officer would be deployed to prevent any clashes between local and foreign sets of fans, and, at least on Tuesday, everything went smoothly in the stands and outside the stadium.
However, while no physical violence took place, respected Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte, via their journalist Richard Souza, who was at the game, claim racist noises were made during the encounter, directed at both Sadio Mané and Daniel Sturridge.
They write: “Some supporters of the local team imitated monkey sounds when the Senegalese player hit the ball. After the Brazilian Coutinho scored for the Reds, Mané responded to the insults and asked for the end of the provocation, which did not happen. In the second half, the scene was repeated with Sturridge, who replaced Mané”.
Toda vez que o atacante senegalês do Liverpool, Sadio Mané, toca na bola, torcida do Spartak imita som de macaco. #trmoscou
— Richard Souza (@richardsouza_) 26 September 2017
The outlet even asked Coutinho about the incident after the game, but the Liverpool star revealed he didn’t hear it at the time: “If that really happened, then it really is regrettable”.
This has not gone down well in Russia, whose Football Union immediately refuted Globo’s claim via their president Vladimir Markin.
He told TASS: “I have no such information, and I state this with 100 percent certainty. Sometimes, they (the foreign media) come with the only purpose to report dirty stories. It’s impossible to see something for real if one comes to work with a beam in his or her own eyes.
“However, if one has definite instructions from the senior management, it will be enough not only to eyewitness, but to imagine or recall what is happening at the stands of their home stadiums.
“Unfortunately, many western journalists have been recently working this way, and what depresses me the most that it goes for sports journalism as well”.
On the pitch, the game between the two sides finished 1-1, with Coutinho cancelling out Fernando’s opener, meaning Liverpool have now drawn both their Champions League games, leaving them second in Group E on goals scored.
