Red Star Belgrade have apologised to Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the AC Milan forward was racially abused by one of their fans on Thursday night.
The striker, who has Bosnian roots, did not play in the last-32 Europa League match but was sat on the bench when cameras picked up a supporter yelling ethnic insults towards him.
Zlatan was born in Sweden to a Croatian Catholic mother and a Bosnian Muslim father. The supporter could be heard calling the forward 'Balija', which is an ethnic slur for people from Bosnia that has been used for years by Serb nationalists
In a statement, the Serbian club said: 'Red Star vehemently condemns abusive chants to Zlatan Ibrahimovic during the Europa League match with AC Milan.
'The club did everything in its power to organise the event on a high level and we will not allow a primitive individual to stain Serbia's traditional hospitality.
'We will work with the authorities to identify the offender and we will also insist that he is punished to the full extent of the law.
'Red Star again sincerely apologises to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and we stress that the club will have zero tolerance for such outbursts in the future.'
Zlatan did not react to the abuse that was directed towards him. Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries used to be part of Yugoslavia before the country's breakup in the early 1990s.
There was a series of wars between several of the countries in the early 1990s.
The match in Belgrade ended in a 2-2 draw with the Serbian's scoring a last-minute equaliser.
The second leg will take place at the San Siro next Thursday.
Naulalu
485
And now Zlatan just made red star famous ... 😂😂
Muhsen_97
468
Lol like a boss he sat there feet crossed ignoring them
IddyIddrinho7
377
Zlatan doesn't care
rehaekorty
298
you see its not only black lives which matters. all lives matters.
LM10DGOAT
193
They knew they were messing with the wrong guy..
kalel111
106
I thought is only black they racial to ah some people are crazy
Sokerking_onTop
11
you see its not only black lives which matters. all lives matters.
shut up mf ,if you don't support and understand BLM don't talk about it
chiday
10
you see its not only black lives which matters. all lives matters.
You think you can come here and be racist then say you have black friends, listen there's ways to locate you as long as an email is link to this profile so buckle up mfker
hiseikpyz
10
you see its not only black lives which matters. all lives matters.
All I can say is you are very senseless for even saying this How often do you hear of such Black people go through racial prejudice every day fear of being killed by you white supremacist All lives deserve to be treated with respect but there is no respect for black people when all lives are treated as equals then you can say all lives matter But for now #blacklivesmatter