There were chaotic scenes after Tottenham's penalty shootout defeat against Norwich at the New Tottenham Stadium. Eric Dier ended up running into the stands to confront a Tottenham fan and a fight broke out. Witnesses say the supporter racially abused Gedson Fernandes after missing the penalty and Dier ran over to back his teammate.
Tottenham were eliminated from the last 16 of the FA Cup after a penalty shootout loss to Norwich City. The game had finished 1-1 after 120 minutes, but there were unsavoury scenes following the 2-3 shootout defeat.
Tim Krul's save from Gedson Fernandes' poor penalty officially confirmed Spurs' elimination and things boiled over after the final whistle. Tottenham player Eric Dier ran into the stands to fight with a fan who had allegedly racially abused Fernandes.
Several fans recorded the incident on their phones and security staff had to pull Dier away. Dier was caught saying "he's my brother". It was initially thought he was referring to Fernandes, but it has now emerged that he could well have actually been referring to his younger brother in the stands.
Jose Mourinho was quizzed on the incident in his post-match conference and he backed Dier. He said that Dier should not have gone into the stands, but he understood the reaction given that it is something "everyone one of us would do." "I don't know," was his response when asked whether the issue was a racist comment made towards Gedson Fernandes. He only knew that Dier's brother was upset by something which happened in the stands and Eric Dier ran over to intervene.
If the allegations of racism are true, football will have been marred by racism once again. In any case, Tottenham's night ended terribly both on and off the pitch.