Brentford's Ivan Toney racially abused in 'barrage' of messages after Arsenal draw

Brentford's Ivan Toney celebrates his equaliser against Arsenal in the Premier League in February 2023.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Brentford striker Ivan Toney has received a 'barrage' of racial abuse after his equaliser against Arsenal on Saturday, the west London club have said.

Toney headed home after 74 minutes at the Emirates Stadium to cancel out Leo Trossard's opener in a controversial goal which was awarded by VAR, but should have been ruled out following an offside which was not spotted by video assistant referee Lee Mason.

"Immediately after Brentford's game against Arsenal, Ivan Toney received a barrage of abusive, racist direct messages via his Instagram account," Brentford said in a statement on Sunday.

And they added: "We are disgusted and saddened that Ivan has had to deal with this yet again."

Arsenal have also condemned the abuse in a statement of their own.

"We stand with Ivan Toney and are working with Brentford to identify those who sent racist abuse," the north London club said.

"At Arsenal we condemn all forms of discrimination and take a zero tolerance approach. We will apply the strongest possible action to anyone we can identify sending hateful messages."

The body responsible for match officials across England, PGMOL, admitted on Sunday that the decision to award Toney's goal was one of two "significant errors" made by VAR on Saturday.

Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.