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Kick It Out has demanded "swift" action and called for "far stronger punishment" from UEFA if a Spartak Moscow youngster is found to have racially abused Liverpool's Rhian Brewster. Liverpool have told UEFA that they believe Brewster, 17, was subject to racial abuse from an opposing player during Wednesday's UEFA Youth League match with Spartak at Prenton Park. Anti-racism body Kick It Out has contacted Liverpool and Brewster to offer its support and will continue to liaise with the Merseyside club during the process. In September, Liverpool's Nigerian-born forward Bobby Adekanye was subjected to chants and gestures from some Spartak supporters, for which the Russian side were charged and forced to partially close their stadium for a game. In a statement, Kick It Out said: "It is clear that UEFA's punishment of a partial stadium closure was far from sufficient to protect Liverpool's players from further disgraceful treatment. "Kick It Out has worked closely with Liverpool over the past two years to offer support regarding on-field incidents of discrimination, and believes the club has been let down by UEFA in their response. "Kick It Out expects a swift investigation by UEFA into today's incident of racial abuse towards Rhian Brewster and has contacted FARE Network to liaise with them on their response too. "Should the Spartak Moscow player be found guilty, the club must receive a far stronger punishment if Europe's governing body is truly serious about ensuring that football is an '#EqualGame.' "It is also extremely concerning to this organisation that yet another incident of racism has taken place involving a Russian club, particularly ahead of the 2018 World Cup. "Players and supporters have been told on several occasions by the Russian Football Association (FA) that racism is not a serious problem in Russian football, whilst FIFA have attempted to assure everyone involved in the game that next summer's tournament will be free from racism or discrimination. "However, racist incidents such as these, which is the second involving Spartak Moscow in just six games of European youth football this season, undermines any confidence black and minority ethnic footballers or supporters will have in their ability to attend the World Cup in Russia without suffering racial abuse. "Kick It Out believes that UEFA must respond robustly to this incident to demonstrate that racism has no place in football, and expects FIFA and the Russian FA to ensure this is not a sign of things to come next summer." Meanwhile, a UEFA spokesperson told ESPN FC on Monday that the governing body "will be waiting to receive the official match reports" and should be able to provide "official information" in the coming days.
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