Tottenham Hotspur have urged social media companies to take action against racist abuse after Son Heung-min was the target of "utterly reprehensible" comments on Sunday evening.
The South Korea international came off the bench to score his side's second goal in their 2-0 Premier League win over London rivals West Ham United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, Son was the victim of disgraceful online abuse following his contribution against the Hammers, and Tottenham have reported the comments to the authorities.
"We have been made aware of the utterly reprehensible online racist abuse directed at Heung-Min Son during today's match, which has been reported by the club," Tottenham said in a tweet. "We stand with Sonny and once again call on the social media companies and authorities to take action."
Sunday's game was not the first time that Son had been the target of racism, as back in June 2022, 12 men were handed community orders for abusing the forward following Spurs' 3-1 loss to Manchester United in April 2021.
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The men all sent written apologies to the Tottenham forward, and the FA affirmed that racism has no place in football, saying in their own tweet: "We strongly condemn the racist abuse aimed at Son Heung-min this evening.
"This has no place in our game and we fully support the authorities and social media companies to take the strongest possible action to tackle it."
Son started Sunday's derby on the bench as Richarlison linked up with Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane up front, but Tottenham were frustrated during a dull first half.
With Antonio Conte watching on from home as he continues to recover from having his gallbladder removed, Tottenham broke through in the second half through Emerson Royal, who combined with Ben Davies to draw first blood in the 56th minute.
Son was introduced for Richarlison in the 68th minute, and just four minutes later, the 30-year-old latched onto Kane's pass and found the bottom corner to double Spurs' advantage.
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Son's strike against West Ham was just his fourth goal of the Premier League season - all of which have come as a substitute - and assistant manager Cristian Stellini revealed in his post-game press conference that the attacker was struggling physically before the game.
"We know that Sonny's response would be perfect because Sonny is a perfect guy. But after the World Cup, sometimes it happens that the player is not fit 100 per cent," Stellini said, as quoted by football.london.
"In that moment you have to take a decision and it is difficult with a player like Sonny to drop them, but you have to do it because we have a lot of matches.
"When he plays five games in a row, sometimes you can feel tired and you can feel something not perfect. It is important for us that the player is mature enough to say this. It is important because you can't manage the performance of 11 players.
"If you have 11 100 per cent, it is better to have seven and three that are not performing well but you need that they are mature and they speak with us. Sonny in this case was perfect during the week but now we have time to manage him to play the next step with six games in 14 days."
Son now has eight goals and three assists to show from 30 games in the 2022-23 season for Tottenham, who sit one point clear of Newcastle United in fourth place having played a game more than the Magpies.
Ben Knapton
