Germán Burgos fired after racist remark about Lamine Yamal | OneFootball

Movistar have fired Germán Burgos after the pundit made a racist remark on their coverage about Lamine Yamal (16) during the warmup to yesterday evening’s Champions League quarter-final between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.

The former Atlético de Madrid coach targetted the Barcelona teenager with a comment that stated the player could “end up at the red light district” if a football career did not work out, and continued by suggesting that the player could beg for money by juggling the ball.

This has been seen as an attack on the teenager’s upbringing as Yamal was born in Spain to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother and brought up in a working-class district of Catalonia.

Both clubs as a result of the comments refused to attend the post-match interviews with the channel, and Movistar have since released a statement confirming that they have fired Burgos referring to his remarks as being “inappropriate.”

The broadcaster addressed the incident, “Movistar Plus+ and Germán ‘El Mono’ Burgos will immediately stop collaborating on the platform’s programs… in accordance with the internal code of conduct, which includes a zero-tolerance policy for any discriminatory behaviour.”

Immediately following the protests from the two teams, Burgos reacted stating “If anyone felt offended, I apologise publicly.” However, later defended his comment, “I did not intend to hurt Lamine Yamal in any way, nor Barcelona, nor the players, nor UEFA, nor Movistar… I made a joke about his qualities and I praised his virtues, in no case did I talk about any ethnicity or social class.”

Movistar has also apologised to the teenager for the comments aired on their programme.

GFFN | Nick Hartland