Manchester United's Fred receives racist abuse online after FA Cup loss

Manchester United midfielder Fred has become the latest well-known Premier League footballer to receive racist abuse online. 

As Rob Dawson noted for ESPN, the 28-year-old United star was blamed for a miscue that allowed Leicester City to open the scoring in United's 3-1 loss in Sunday's FA Cup showdown. 

"When we win, we win together, and when we lose, we lose together," United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said after the defeat. "We're not pointing fingers and blaming."

Multiple United players, including Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, have reported receiving racist abuse via social media platforms during the 2020-21 season. Earlier this month, Crystal Palace defender Patrick van Aanholt shared racist messages he received after he failed to convert a close-range attempt on goal in a draw at home to United. 

The Premier League has worked with media outlets and the "Kick It Out" movement to eliminate such forms of racism from all tiers of English football and ban guilty parties from attending matches and from social media platforms. Back in February, Palace forward Wilfried Zaha suggested that taking a knee before kickoffs to honor the "Black Lives Matter" movement was merely a "charade" and that more needed to be done to eliminate racism from the sport.