Brentford FC strongly condemned the 'cowardly racial abuse' Ethan Pinnock received on Instagram after his team's game against Manchester United.

Following Brentford's 2-1 defeat against United on the weekend, the Jamaican defender posted on his instagram story a screenshot of the racist comments a user made on one of his posts.

The comment is now deleted, but when Pinnock shared the comments to his story, he wrote: "Say no to racism badges working well then."

Brentford in a statement said: "Brentford FC strongly condemns the cowardly racial abuse directed at our player Ethan Pinnock on Instagram.

"Racial discrimination is a stain on our sport and society and we will continue to fight against it.

"We have initiated an investigation and will be seeking the support of the police and Meta to identify the perpetrator and hold them accountable."

The club added: "This is a crime, yet it happens all too often. When can we expect social media companies to fully use their resources and technology to provide us with the safer online experience many of us want?

"Ethan has our full support at this time."

A Meta spokesperson has told Nub News: "We don't want racist abuse on Instagram and we've removed the violating comments and the account.

"We also want to protect people from this abuse in the first place, which is why we've developed features like Hidden Words, which filters offensive comments and DMs, and Limits, which hides comments and DMs from people who don't follow you or only followed you recently.

"We know racism can't be eradicated overnight, but we'll continue to work closely with football bodies to help players turn on these tools and to help protect our community from abuse."

This comes as the Premier League has launched its yearly 'No Room For Racism' campaign where the league dedicates matches from the 7 to 23 October to the cause.

Pinnock currently has the most clearances in the Premier League so far this season with 57.

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