FRED was racially abused after Manchester United’s 3-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Leicester.
The midfielder became the latest United player targeted by sick online trolls this year after his error gifted Kelechi Iheanacho the opening goal.
Some Instagram posts were racist as the Brazil star suffered the same way Marcus Rashford did on Twitter in January, while Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were attacked on social media last month.
But some comments went far beyond acceptable criticism as football showed again it still has a huge problem with racism.
The FA’s equality and diversity director, Edleen John, wants more help from the police and Crown Prosecution Service against online abuse.
And United have also hit out at racist treatment faced by their players.
A recent club statement read: “Manchester United has zero tolerance of any form of racism or discrimination and a longstanding commitment to campaigning against it through our All Red All Equal initiative.”
On the pitch, at the King Power Stadium, Fred and Co fell well short of their recent high standards.
But United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told BBC Sport: “When we win, we win together and when we lose, we lose together.
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“We’re not pointing fingers and blaming.”
“We didn’t have the spark – but it’s understandable.
“This team have been fantastic in the last three or four months. We played every three days and been on a great run. It just caught up with us.”
