Manchester Police opens investigation on social media abuse targeted at United players

Following the racial abuse being dished out at the Manchester United players, Greater Manchester Police has now decided to open an investigation into the matter.

"We are aware of a number of Manchester United football players suffering abuse on social media accounts between Wednesday, January 27 and Saturday, January 30. Nobody should be subject to such abuse and it is deeply upsetting not only to those who suffer it, but to all those who come across this awful language too," Greater Manchester Police said in an official statement.

"These hateful words have no place anywhere in our society whether online or otherwise. A number of these comments have been reported to us and we are liaising with those involved to provide support and we will be investigating these crimes thoroughly. Tackling hate crime remains a priority for GMP and we take these reports very seriously," it added.

United's playmaker Marcus Rashford was racially abused on Twitter on Saturday following the side's goalless draw against Arsenal in the Premier League.

Rashford had then taken to Twitter to say racist abuse is humty at its worst. "Humty and social media at its worst. Yes, I'm a black man and I live every day proud that I am. No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you're just simply not going to get it here," he tweeted.

"I'm not sharing screenshots. It would be irresponsible to do so and as you can imagine there's nothing original in them. I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don't need to read it. Beautiful colours that should only be celebrated," he added.

Last week, Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial were also targeted after United's 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United in midweek.

"Everyone at Manchester United is disgusted by the racial abuse received by players via social media after last night's game. We utterly condemn it and it is encouraging to see other fans condemn this on social media also," United had said at that time.

United is currently at the second spot in Premier League standings with 41 points and the side will next take on Southampton on Tuesday.

( With inputs from ANI )