Wilfried Zaha: Crystal Palace forward racially abused after victory over Manchester City

Wilfried Zaha has highlighted racist abuse he was sent online after Crystal Palace’s victory at Manchester City on Saturday.

Zaha scored the opener in Palace’s 2-0 win, which also saw City defender Aymeric Laporte sent off for a foul on the forward.

The Ivory Coast international subsequently posted screenshots on Instagram of racist abuse he had received following the match.

And Zaha wrote: “This message isn’t for me to get a million messages saying we stand with you and it’s disgusting or about me getting sympathy.

“I’m not here for all the nonsense that is being done instead of fixing the actual problem!

“I don’t mind abuse because nowadays it comes with doing the job I do even though it’s not an excuse, but my colour will always be the real problem, but it’s fine because I’ll always be BLACK AND PROUD!

“Speak to me when you actual take this issue serious.”

A spokesperson from Instagram’s parent company Meta told the PA news agency: “No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere. Sending messages like this on Instagram is completely against our rules and we have removed the accounts who sent the abuse from Instagram.

“We also want to help protect people from having to see this abuse in the first place. That’s why we’ve developed safety features like Hidden Words, which filters offensive comments and DMs, and Limits, which lets you hide comments and messages from people who don’t follow you, or who only followed you recently.”