Liverpool match halted after Bournemouth star reports racial abuse at Anfield

Liverpool match halted live on Sky after Bournemouth star reports racial abuse at Anfield

Latest Liverpool news as Premier League opener vs AFC Bournemouth at Anfield is stopped by referee Anthony Taylor

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AFC Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo was allegedly subjected to racist abuse during Liverpool's Premier League clash with AFC Bournemouth on Friday night. On the half-hour mark, referee Anthony Taylor brought the game to a halt to speak to both Arne Slot and Andoni Iraola over the incident.

The enforced break lasted around two minutes with a member of the Anfield security staff involved in the meeting while the fourth official made notes. Shortly after, there was an announcement over the PA in L4 that operation Anfield exercise had begun, which lasted around 10 minutes of the encounter.

Sky Sports commentator Peter Drury said: "Nobody is going to speculate here, we're all in the dark on the topic of conversation. It is something that both coaches were invited to hear about.

"I am told, via the Premier League match centre, Antoine Semenyo was subject to a racist comment from a member of the crowd. What I can tell you is that it was Semenyo who brought it to the referee's attention himself."

The alleged incident on Merseyside comes just a day after Premier League CEO Richard Masters claimed that progress was being made to tackle racism in football.

Masters set out his stance and added that work is needed to be done to stamp out racism. It comes after the high-profile case of England Women's star Jess Carter was the subject of racial abuse online during the European Championships.

"I don't think any professional footballer from any walk of life should have to face abuse like that," said the Premier League CEO.

"There has been progress, there has been progress, we've had the Online Safety Act come in and we've worked with social media platforms to filter out these messages.

"It's not a complete piece of work yet so we have to go again."

There will be more to follow. We'll bring you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.

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