Ivan Toney has revealed he received racist abuse online after his two goals gave Brentford a 2-0 win against Brighton on Friday night.
Toney scored a brace to press his claims for a place in the England squad for the World Cup and help the Bees get back to winning ways in the Premier League.
The striker gave Brentford the lead with a brilliant backheel and scored another penalty to maintain his outstanding record from the spot.
But after his man-of-the-match performance, Toney suffered racist abuse online.
Sharing screenshots of an Instagram direct message, Toney tweeted on Saturday morning: “I wasn’t even going to post this but I woke up angry…”
A Brentford statement said: “Last night, Ivan Toney was subjected to disgusting, racist abuse via a direct message received on social media. We condemn this discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms. An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us.
“Ivan will receive the full backing from the club and from the Brentford fans who we have already seen condemning the abuse.
“We expect strong support from the police, legal authorities and from Instagram’s parent company, Meta, to ensure that the individual involved faces the full force of the law for this despicable hate crime.”
In a post-match interview with Sky Sports, Toney spoke about his desire to earn a place in the England squad for the World Cup in Qatar this winter.
The 26-year-old was called up by Gareth Southgate last month but did not feature in matches against Italy and Germany.
“I’m ready to go,” he said. “Everyone’s talking about England. I was disappointed not to get on last time but you’ve got to keep working. I just keep doing what I do best – score goals and do well for the team.
“With England you are playing with the best of the best. Without being big headed I didn’t feel out of place. I felt I was ready for that step and whenever it comes along, I’m ready.
“I’m just trying to do the best I can for the team and if it’s enough to get on the plane to the World Cup then so be it. All I can do is do my job and then hopefully it is enough. If I get to the World Cup then hopefully I’ll get some minutes there.”
