Chelsea have threatened to ban and support criminal action against anybody found guilty of sending “disgusting” racist abuse to Nicolas Jackson in the wake of the striker’s missed chances in the club’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City.
Jackson failed to score on three separate occasions during City’s 1-0 victory and was consoled by Chelsea team-mates and staff on the Wembley turf at the full-time whistle.
Jackson’s misses overshadowed what had otherwise been a good performance from the 22-year-old, who has scored 10 Premier League goals in his first season at Chelsea.
And they prompted a series of racist messages on Instagram in which Jackson was sent monkey and peanut emojis, and called the N-word by anonymous users.
The messages were sent in reply to a post on Instagram that Jackson had made after the Everton game last week in which he had scored.
Chelsea responded to the racist messages in a strong statement that said, “Chelsea Football Club is disgusted by the racial abuse directed towards Nicolas Jackson via social media, following Saturday evening’s game.
“There is no place in society for any form of discrimination and we operate a zero-tolerance approach to any incident of this nature.
“The club will support any criminal prosecutions and take the strongest possible action, including bans, against any individual who is found to be a season ticket holder or member.”
Along with Chelsea, Telegraph Sport understands the Professional Footballers’ Association has been made aware of the racist posts.
Jackson received the backing of head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who said, “Jackson is doing fantastic and he will always have my support. He’s doing an amazing job for the team: running, scoring, assists. It’s not easy in the first season. Nicolas fights for the club and he will be better next season, no doubts.”
Jackson and his Chelsea team-mates must quickly pick themselves up from the disappointment of losing the semi-final, as they face Arsenal in the League at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
Earlier this season, Jackson was upset by a supporter who shouted at him from the Stamford Bridge stand, but apologised for his reaction in a media chat.
Jackson said, “To the fan, I have to say sorry. I never had this before. At Villarreal, you play without so much pressure because it’s a different team, but I know it comes from a good place.
“Normally, I don’t talk to fans or get distracted by what they say. I don’t know what came over me. It must have been frustration. It’s not a small thing, everybody at the game expecting you to do what they want you to. It’s because they love you, not because they hate you. They want you to make them happy. Now I know that. I was in Villarreal, but it was a different environment. You don’t have these kinds of things there. In Chelsea, it’s different.”
Chelsea signed Jackson for around £32 million from Villarreal last summer and his 10 League goals put him ahead of Rasmus Hojlund, Kai Havertz, Marcus Rashford, Gabriel Jesus and Julián Álvarez so far this season.
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