'These people shouldn't belong to Chelsea' - Giroud backs Salah after 'bomber' chants

Dom Farrell

'These people shouldn't belong to Chelsea' - Giroud backs Salah after 'bomber' chants image

Olivier Giroud believes the Chelsea fans who sang discriminatory chants against Mohamed Salah should not be considered part of the club.

Social media footage shared before the Blues' Europa League game at Slavia Prague on Thursday showed a small group of fans singing about their former player Salah, calling the Egypt international "a bomber".

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Chelsea condemned the incident as "an embarrassment", while three of the six fans shown in the video were identified as they made their way into the Eden Arena and turned away by club security staff.

The Blues said in a statement: "Chelsea FC finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour abhorrent and where there is clear evidence of Chelsea season ticket holders or members involved in such behaviour, we will take the strongest possible action against them.

"Such individuals are an embarrassment to the vast majority of Chelsea supporters who won’t tolerate them in their club."

Liverpool issued a statement of their own, condemning the "vile discriminatory chants" against their star forward Salah as "dangerous and disturbing" examples of "unadulterated bigotry".

The Reds said: "The video circulating online, showing vile discriminatory chants being aimed at one of our players, is dangerous and disturbing.

"This behaviour needs to be called out for what it is - unadulterated bigotry.

"As pertains to this latest incident, the club is working with Merseyside Police to ascertain the facts around this footage with the aim of identifying individuals featuring in it.

"In addition, we are working directly with Chelsea Football Club on the matter. We thank them for their condemnation and a commitment to act urgently to identify any individuals responsible."

Speaking to Sky Sports after a 1-0 win for Maurizio Sarri's men over Slavia, Giroud was similarly scathing.

"I think these people shouldn't belong to Chelsea," he said.

"The club and everybody condemns these kind of things.

"We are 100 per cent behind Mo Salah. Nowadays it shouldn't happen."

Chelsea travel to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday, with Jurgen Klopp's side top of the Premier League heading into this weekend – two points clear of champions Manchester City at the summit, having played a game more.

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.