Liverpool U18 side walk off pitch after racist abuse from Eintracht Frankfurt player: Reports

The Liverpool U18 team opted to abandon their recent clash against Eintracht Frankfurt in Schwabish Hall in Germany after one of their players was allegedly subjected to racial abuse.

According to German outlet Bild, the Reds' U18 players walked off the pitch during one of their Bundesliga Cup matches. A Frankfurt star allegedly used a racist term against an opponent in the second half as the Germans were awarded a 3-0 win in the abandoned tie.

After last Friday's incident, Liverpool released a statement (h/t Metro):

"Liverpool can confirm that a member of our under-18s team reported he was racially abused by an opponent while playing in the Bundesliga Cup youth tournament at Schwabisch Hall in Germany on Friday. The player immediately alerted the official, his team-mates, and our coaching staff. Consequently, LFC’s management team decided to stop the game and leave the pitch together."

The Premier League club's statement further read:

"In a further incident, the same player was the target of abuse during a fixture [against TSG Hoffenheim] in the tournament today. Again, the player alerted his team-mates and coaching staff and our management team opted to leave the pitch once more."

"We are proud of our player for his prompt actions in reporting the incident and the maturity of his response. He and any of his team-mates affected are being supported by the academy safeguarding team. The club calls upon our opponents and the tournament organisers to conduct an urgent and thorough investigation into the incident."

Eintracht Frankfurt sporting director opines on claims of racism in recent Liverpool tie

After the Merseyside outfit's statement, Eintracht Frankfurt sporting director Timmo Hardung asserted that the accused player had not used any racist language earlier this Friday. He told media (h/t Metro):

"Our entire NLZ [Youth Performance Centre] is like Eintracht Frankfurt, multicultural and we have clear values that we live by and constantly demand. Racism has no place here, but we still take such an accusation seriously."

Hardung, who has previously worked at RB Leipzig, continued:

"After consultation, our player confirmed that he had used the word 'digga', which is common in youth slang, in the course of a normal game. We have no doubt that this statement is correct. We can rule out racism, it is a linguistic issue and we therefore hope that we have also cleared up the misunderstanding with the players concerned and those responsible at Liverpool FC."

TSG Hoffenheim reportedly also used the same explanation after the alleged incident in the cup clash between Liverpool and Frankfurt.

All sides in the Bundesliga Cup have been informed not to use 'digga'.