Manchester City have released a statement condemning the racist abuse that 17-year-old Rico Lewis received from Sevilla supporters during Wednesday's Champions League fixture at the Etihad Stadium.
Lewis scored a memorable goal on his full debut for the Citizens, equalising early in the second half to help the Premier League champions come from behind to beat the Spanish outfit 3-1 in their final Group G fixture.
The teenage right-back became City's youngest-ever goalscorer in Champions League history as well as the youngest player to score on his first start in the competition, breaking the previous record held by Karim Benzema.
However, City have since revealed that two arrests are understood to have been made after Lewis was subject to racist abuse from the away supporters, and they intend to work with both Sevilla and Greater Manchester Police to investigate the matter.
A club statement released on Thursday evening read: "Manchester City strongly condemns the racist abuse that Rico Lewis was subject to from Sevilla supporters at yesterday's match.
"We understand that two arrests have been made and are continuing to work with Sevilla and GMP (Greater Manchester Police) to investigate this matter.
"We will not tolerate discrimination of any kind at our stadium and will be offering our full support to Rico following these vile incidents."
Club Statement: Manchester City vs Sevilla FC
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 3, 2022
A statement from Sevilla read: "Sevilla FC strongly condemn the behaviour of two fans in the away section of Manchester City's stadium, who were identified and accused of allegedly behaving in a racist manner towards Manchester City player Rico Lewis.
"Sevilla FC are awaiting official confirmation of these facts, of which they have been made aware by Manchester City, and if these are proven, the two fans will be removed from the list of members."
Lewis, who has featured five times under Pep Guardiola this season, received plenty of praise from the Man City manager after Wednesday's victory, and the Spaniard believes that the defender has "something special".
"We don't give presents here," Guardiola told BBC Sport. "He had to earn it. The people love players from the academy but we see him every day. We know he has quality and I am really happy for him.
"He played for a few minutes against Bayern Munich in pre-season and also in the training sessions. We felt he had something special. The players didn't know him before. But you know good players in two minutes. They knew they could rely on him 100%."
Just under three weeks ago, Brentford and the Premier League condemned the racist abuse aimed at England striker Ivan Toney on social media following the Bees' 2-0 win at home against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Oliver Thomas
