Slot stands with Semenyo after racial abuse incident in Bournemouth defeat

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has praised the character of Ghana international Antoine Semenyo after he was reported to have been racially abused by someone in the Anfield crowd during their Premier League opener on Friday.

The 25-year-old went on to score twice in 12 second-half minutes as the Cherries briefly levelled, before the reigning champions struck late twice to win 4-2. After the game, Semenyo took to Instagram to show more racist abuse he had received, with the caption: “When will it stop?”

Speaking after the game, Slot revealed he had talked to Semenyo after the game and promised to apprehend the person who abused him.

“I think it is under investigation with the police now and the club made a very clear statement about what we feel about this,” Slot said as quoted by Liverpool website. “Unfortunately, we definitely have to talk about this, it’s a good thing you talk about this and it’s a good thing that I have to answer this, but after actually this day should be about Diogo and about how the tribute was.

“But we definitely need to address this because it’s unacceptable in every football stadium, let alone at Anfield. I spoke to him [Semenyo] after the game that we will try to do everything to find that person. I am not 100 per cent sure but I think they already found him. That’s a good thing.

“Wherever we can help him we will try to do so. Big credit to him, if something happens like this and you can perform so well in the second half then he’s not only a great player, because that I can see [with] how fast he is, but he is also very strong mentally.

“If something like that happened [and] to get such a second-half performance, that sums up him as a person and him as a player. But, again, [it’s] unacceptable in football in general, let alone at Anfield.”