‘I’ll always be black and proud!’ - Crystal Palace’s Zaha suffers racist abuse online after Manchester City win

Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha has confirmed he was racially abused after guiding the team to a 2-0 Premier League win against Manchester City on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Ivory Coast international was the chief tormentor as he scored the first goal in the sixth minute before Conor Gallagher scored the winner in the 88th minute.

He was also at the centre of the incident which saw Man City defender Aymeric Laporte was sent off for an early shower.

Zaha was racing towards Man City's goal before Laporte pulled him down and he was shown a straight red card as he was the last man in the 45th minute.

Zaha has now confirmed in a message on his Instagram page that he suffered racial abuse after the match.

“This message isn’t for me to get a million messages saying we stand with you and it’s disgusting or about me getting sympathy,” Zaha posted.

“I’m not here for all the nonsense that is being done instead of fixing the actual problem!

“I don't mind abuse because nowadays it comes with doing the job I do even though it's not an excuse but my colour will always be the real problem but it's fine because I'll always be BLACK AND PROUD!

“Speak to me when you actually take this issue seriously.”

Speaking after the game at the Etihad Stadium, Zaha suggested why Palace managed to stop Man City.

“It was just about getting in their faces and not letting them play,” Zaha said in his post-match interview as quoted by the club’s official website.

“We know how good they are, but today was about us not letting them play, and showing them what we can do. That’s what we did.

“I feel like we’re a threat going forwards, but the difference you see now is that we keep the ball from the back.

We keep the ball around the pitch and we make our chances, we’re now exploiting the talent we have up-front and all around the pitch.

“I scuffed it [for the opening goal] but a goal is a goal. I was just buzzing that I saw it go in, and that’s the way you want it to start. I was happy.”