Antonio Rudiger says he was racially abused by more than one fan and wants swift action against ‘couple of idiots’

Chelsea defender was allegedly targeted with monkey chants during Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham and has revealed it was more than one person who he saw making gestures

Antonio Rudiger has called on Tottenham Hotspur to take swift and decisive action against “a couple of idiots” after claiming it was more than one person who allegedly targeted him with racist abuse.

The Chelsea defender reported monkey taunts from the home supporters during the 2-0 victory over Spurs in Sunday, which captain Cesar Azpilicueta swiftly passed on to referee Anthony Taylor. Three separate tannoy announcements were made inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in regards to the incident, though it’s understood that only one report was made.

In posting a series of tweets about the incident on Twitter, Rudiger revealed that he saw more than one individual targeting him, and called on Spurs to take the appropriate action against them once they are identified, should it be proven that they committed a racist offence.

"I really hope that the offenders will be found and punished soon, and in such a modern football ground like the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with dozens of TV and security cameras, it must be possible to find and punish them," Rudiger said.

"If not, then there must have been witnesses in the stadium who saw and heard the incident. It's just such a shame that racism still exists in 2019. When will this nonsense stop?"

Tottenham issued a statement soon after the match to confirm that they are investigating the incident, which occurred in the 62nd minute of the Premier League encounter, and the club have promised to take the “strongest possible action” against any fans who are identified to have made racial gestures.

Rudiger is the latest Premier League player to suffer alleged racist abuse in a match, with Manchester United's Fred targeted by a Manchester City fan earlier this month.

A series of racist incidents have tainted European soccer recently too, with Inter Milan's Romelu Lukaku and Brescia's Mario Balotelli subjected to racist insults from rival fans during Serie A matches in Italy this season.

"It's really sad to see racism again at a football match, but I think it's important to talk about it in public. If not, it'll be forgotten again in a couple of days (as always)," Rudiger added.

"I don't want to involve Tottenham as an entire club into this situation as I know that just a couple of idiots were the offenders. I got a lot of supportive messages on social media from Spurs fans as well... thank you a lot for this."