German international Antonio Rüdiger says he has also been the victim of racist abuse directed at Premier League players. Meanwhile, the German Cup quarter final draw has pitched the two Borussias against each other.

Rüdiger suffers “immense” racist abuse over Lampard sacking

Chelsea’s German international defender Antonio Rüdiger says he has been the victim of “immense” racist abuse on social media in the wake of the sacking of former Blues coach Frank Lampard.

Rüdiger has dismissed reports that he was involved in encouraging the Chelsea hierarchy to dismiss Lampard as “nonsense” – but he says he has been targeted online nevertheless.

“I cannot control people’s emotions but people should be human beings,” he said in a statement published on Chelsea’s official website. “Me, I didn’t post anything but the racial abuse was immense. This makes me stronger because I know who I am, I can look in the mirror and I can smile.”

The 27-year-old is not the first Premier League footballer to suffer racist abuse online in recent weeks. Manchester United players Axel Tuanzebe, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have also been targeted, as has West Bromwich Albion’s Romaine Sawyers, Southampton’s Alex Jankewitz and Rüdiger’s Chelsea teammate Reece James. James’ sister Lauren, a striker for Manchester United’s women’s team, also revealed that she had been sent racist abuse on Instagram.

Rüdiger, now playing under his compatriot Thomas Tuchel, took aim at social media companies for their lack of action to tackle racism on their platforms.

“I think they don’t really care because, as you know, money has power so the rest doesn’t matter,” he said in his statement. “It’s hard to tell if people will make a change on that.”