Frankfurt and Hoffenheim hit back at accusations of racism after Liverpool U18 players walked off the pitch

Eintracht Frankfurt and Hoffenheim have rejected claims by their team players that they racially abused one of Liverpool’s under-18s at last week’s Bundesliga Cup youth tournament.

The Reds U18s walked off the field twice in Germany last week after one of their players claimed he was racially abused in back-to-back games on back-to-back days. On Friday, the team left when they faced Hoffenheim.

Then, a day later, they did it again, going against Frankfurt after the same player claimed he had been targeted once again. Liverpool then released a club statement following the two incidents, writing: “Liverpool FC can confirm that a member of our under-18 squad reported being racially abused by an opponent while playing in the youth tournament on Friday of the Bundesliga Cup at Schwabisch Hall in Germany. .

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They added: “The player immediately alerted the match referee, his teammates and our coaching staff. As a result, the LFC management team decided to stop the game and leave the pitch all together.

“In another incident, the same player was the target of abuse during a tournament match today. Again, the player alerted his teammates and coaching staff and our management team opted to leave the field once more.”

The Athletic reports that both incidents involve a dispute over what was allegedly said. Against Frankfurt, the Bundesliga side claim their player said “digga”, which translates to “bro” in German slang.

However, following Liverpool’s claims, both Frankfurt and Hoffenheim rejected suggestions their players had used racist language, with the former’s sporting director Timmo Hardung saying there had been a “misunderstanding”.

“We can rule out racism. It’s a linguistic problem,” Hardung told Bild. “So hopefully we have also cleared up the misunderstanding with the players concerned and those responsible at Liverpool FC.” Hardung added that racism “has no place here” and said Frankfurt took “such an accusation seriously”.

Hoffenheim are also said to have offered a similar explanation following Friday’s incident, but it was also believed that the second incident was witnessed by a number of Liverpool U18 players.