'Danny Rose is lying to whom?'
The Serbian FA have shamefully tried to discredit Danny Rose’s claim that he was racially abused by fans during England’s Under 21 European Championship play-off win on Tuesday.
Just 24 hours after the Serbs insisted there had been no racist chanting during the ill-tempered clash in Krusevac, their official YouTube channel posted a bizarre video mocking the Tottenham player’s accusation.
Watch the astonishing video here:
The heavily edited six-minute clip, entitled ‘Danny Rose is lying to whom?’, contained footage of Rose in action at various moments in the game, with no apparent evidence of racist abuse aimed at him.
However, the video ended at 76 minutes and ignored the explosive end to the game in which Rose was shown a red card for kicking a ball into the crowd out of frustration at the abuse from the stands.
Other YouTube footage had clearly implicated the crowd, while several witnesses gave first-hand accounts of the abuse, which England players insisted had taken place from the warm-up onwards.
Below the Serbian FA video clip, which was brought to the attention of Sportsmail by www.101greatgoals.com, a caption read:
‘Danny Rose said: “Every time I touched the ball, they were doing the monkey chanting again”. As you can see in this video, there was no unsportsmanlike cheering and insulting opposing players on racial grounds.’
The clip was posted by ‘Fudbalski savez Srbije’ — the domestic name of the Serbian FA, and a link to the video appeared on the governing body’s official website.
Rose, now on loan at Sunderland, will talk to manager Martin O’Neill before a decision is made as to whether he is in the right state of mind to play in Sunday’s Wear-Tyne derby.
Rose, described as inconsolable after the game, returned to Sunderland and took part in a light training session ahead of the clash with Newcastle.
O’Neill said: ‘I will speak to him and give him a day or two, and let him try to start focusing on the game. I am sure he would want to play. I am getting to know Danny, I think he is a good little character, he wants to play every week.
‘It was disappointing considering the efforts here to eradicate racism. It is something he won’t have encountered and a difficult situation. Obviously I have the utmost sympathy and empathy.’
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas has also offered his support and confirmed he has spoken to the 22-year-old. He said: ‘It’s extremely difficult for Danny. He was disappointed by the situation he had to live with. I told Daniel I support him completely.’
Chris Hughton, the Premier League’s only black manager, has called for UEFA to order national associations found guilty of racist abuse from supporters to play behind closed doors or be banned.
The Norwich boss said: ‘This gives UEFA a good opportunity to stamp their authority on this, for them to be big and brave.’
