A man has been arrested over allegations of racist abuse during the Manchester derby.

At least two United players including Brazilian star Fred and England international Jesse Lingard are believed to have been targeted with abuse during Saturday's game at the Etihad Stadium, which also saw missiles thrown from the stands.

Greater Manchester Police said a 41-year-old man has been detained after a video posted on social media appeared to show a City supporter making a monkey gesture towards a United player.

Image: United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer branded the alleged abuse 'unacceptable'

The suspect, who remains in custody for questioning, is being held on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.

Superintendent Chris Hill said: "I would like to thank the public for their ongoing support with this incident.


"Racism of any kind has no place in football or our society and I hope this arrest shows that we are taking this matter extremely seriously.

"We will continue to work with Manchester City and Manchester United Football clubs on this incident and will investigate any other lines of enquiries."

Manchester City has already said any fans found guilty of racist abuse will be banned from the club for life.

United's Marcus Rashford told Sky Sports he was not aware of the incident during the game, but said the fact such abuse was still happening "isn't good enough".

He added that there was "obviously work still to do in that area".

Fred and Lingard also faced objects being hurled at them by opposing fans.

City players were seen appealing for calm in the section of the crowd where the missiles appeared to have come from.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer branded the alleged abuse "unacceptable".

He said: "We have to stamp it out. We keep talking about it every single week and it's not acceptable."

English football's equality and inclusion organisation Kick It Out said it had been "inundated with reports of alleged racist abuse from a number of individuals" during the game, which United won 2-1.