Two players were sent off in Man U’s controversial 3-2 win over the league leaders at Stamford Bridge, in which two Chelsea players were sent off – Torres for a second yellow card for diving and Branislav Ivanovic for preventing a definite goal scoring opportunity.
Only Chelsea fans and the ignorant could dispute the two red cards. However, Chelsea were unfortunate when replays showed that United’s late winner against nine-men should have been disallowed as scorer Javier Hernandez narrowly but clearly offside.
That’s an eventful match by any standards, but even those incidents have been overshadowed by the racism complaints against the ref, which were made official at 7.45pm after a heated exchange in the dressing rooms involving Chelsea CEO Ron Gourlay, manager Roberto Di Matteo and Mikel.
Mikel claims Clattenburg made racially insulting comments when he booked the midfielder in the 76th minute.
Torres also alleges Clattenburg referred to him as a “a Spanish twat”, it has been reported.
The Daily Mail reports sources saying the Chelsea players are willing to make statements to the FA’s disciplinary committee.
“We have lodged a complaint to the Premier League match delegate with regards to inappropriate language used by the referee and directed at two of our players in two separate incidents in today’s match,” a club spokesperson said. “The match delegate will pass the complaint to the FA.”
Professional Game Match Officials, who represent referees, released a statement: “PGMO is aware of the allegations and they are being treated with the utmost seriousness. Mark will co-operate fully and welcomes the opportunity for the facts to be established.”
Sky TV’s footage from 20 cameras and statements from assistant referees who wear microphones for games will be key to the investigation.
The incident coincided with almost unanimous support for the Kick Racism Out of Football campaign –suspended John Terry wore a Kick It Out badge in the stands.
Only United’s Ashley Young refused to wear a One Game One Community shirt before the game.
Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole also appear to bury the hatchet after Rio was fined £45,000 for his ‘choc ice’ tweet.
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