Man Utd boss Solskjaer explains Pogba reaction to racist abuse after Wolves draw

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has insisted Paul Pogba is ‘fine’ despite experiencing racist abuse following his side’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Wolves on Monday.

The Red Devils secured a point at Molineux, with Ruben Neves’ thunderstrike cancelling out Anthony Martial’s early effort.

Manchester United could have walked away with all three, though, had Pogba not seen a penalty saved by Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

The France international was subjected to racist abuse by Twitter trolls in the immediate aftermath of the result but Solskjaer has insisted his prized asset is ‘fine’.

“Paul’s fine, Paul’s a strong character and it makes him stronger,” said Solskjaer.

“When you speak to him he’s fine and I just cannot be live we’re still sitting here in 2019 talking about these instances.

“Social media is a place where people can hide behind fake identifies, it’s not down to me to change it but there are so many Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s on Twitter I know it’s not me and we’ve got to do something about it and the authorities have got to do something about it, you feel sorry for them (the abusers), they must have problems themselves.”

Solskjaer also opened up on the meeting United will hold with Twitter in the aftermath of the incident.

“We need to protect individuals and protect people,” he added.

“When there’s death threats and racism, it’s serious allegations, serious incidents, sometimes you get annoyed, what can we do about it as Manchester United, we’re not gonna ban our players on social media we have to spread the good word instead.

“We can use it to spread good and have to stop those incidents.”

United players had taken to Twitter to condemn criticism of their team-mate.

And the social media platform themselves opened up on the incident and blasted anybody making foul comments online.

“We’re fully aware of and share the concerns surrounding online racist abuse towards certain footballers in the UK over recent days,” a statement read.

“We strongly condemn this unacceptable behaviour, and have now permanently suspended a series of accounts for violating our hateful conduct policy.

“We’re proactively monitoring the conversation online and will continue taking robust action on any account which violates our rules.

“This is a societal issue and requires a societal response.

“This is why we maintain a dialogue with both the PFA and Kick It Out and are committed to working together to address abusive online and racist behaviour across the industry.

“We continue to liaise closely with our partners to identify meaningful solutions to this unacceptable behaviour – both offline and on.”

Pogba is expected to start when United face Palace on Saturday (3pm).

source: express.co.uk