UEFA have dropped the charges against Spartak Moscow youngster Leonid Mironov after he was accused of racial abusing Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster, 17, in a UEFA Youth League match in December.
Brewster, a rising star for the England U-17 side and Liverpool, reacted furiously in Liverpool’s 2-0 win and had to be restrained by members of the coaching staff as he alleged racist abuse.
An investigation has since taken place into the incident, but UEFA’s control, ethics and disciplinary body found no evident to “legally support” sanctioning Mironov after interviewing players and match officials.
The Spartak Moscow youngster admitted to swearing at Brewster but says he didn’t use any racist language. UEFA released a statement saying the following about the charges against Mironov being dropped.
“Following the opening of proceedings, Uefa appointed an ethics and disciplinary inspector to conduct a thorough independent investigation and gather potential evidence relating to the case. Such an appointment is standard practice, given that allegations of racist behaviour are taken very seriously by Uefa and its disciplinary bodies in accordance with our zero-tolerance policy towards any kind of discrimination.
“The inspector took statements from five players from both teams, as well as from two match officials, who were in the vicinity of the alleged incident. None of these heard any discriminatory words. Leonid Mironov was also interviewed by the inspector and stated that he indeed swore at Rhian Brewster, but he unreservedly denied using any discriminatory language.
“After concluding his investigation, the inspector found no evidence to corroborate the allegations, which he believed were made in complete good faith by the Liverpool player Rhian Brewster. Therefore, the Uefa control, ethics and disciplinary body, following the recommendation of the inspector, established that there was no evidence that would legally support sanctioning the Spartak Moskva youth player Leonid Mironov and thus decided to close the disciplinary proceedings.”
