West Ham defender Hawa Cissoko has received racist abuse and threatening messages following an incident that saw her sent off against Aston Villa over the weekend.
The French star was involved in an altercation with Aston Villa's Sarah Mayling in the final minutes of the Women's Super League game on Saturday. Cissoko appeared to strike her opponent in the face twice and was then involved in an altercation with the Villa bench as she made her way off the pitch.
Hammers' boss Paul Konchesky was also dismissed for 'aggressive behaviour' after the two benches disagreed about the referee's decision, with Rachel Daly seen having words with the former Liverpool player. A few days on from the incident and, according to the Daily Mail, the player has been targeted with threatening messages, some of which were of a racist nature.
Cissoko had taken to Twitter on Sunday night to thank her supporters and reference the abuse she had received on social media since the game the previous day. Cissoko tweeted on Saturday evening: "But luckily I'm touched by very few things, huh! Because between the nonsense and the (very violent) insults that are said! That's to kill yourself!"
The Hammers' have said that the matter will be dealt with internally. Villa boss Carla Ward was scathing of the defender and her actions - and said: "I've never seen anything like that in a game, the punch in the face from Cissoko is not acceptable.
"The melee in the dugout is absolutely not ok, from what I've seen. What's frustrating is our girls were superb, they deserved more from that game."
Konchesky said: “I’m not sure what happened on the pitch, or how it happened. I did see Hawa raise her hands, but I did see the opponent raise her hands as well. She stays on the pitch, Hawa gets sent off.
“As Hawa goes down the tunnel, some of their staff were saying stuff to my players which I don’t respect. Me and my staff will obviously stick up for my players and I think that’s why you see it all go off near the dugout.
“I did get sent down the tunnel. Was it harsh? Probably because I’m sticking up for my player who is getting stuff said to her. So whatever the consequences I’ll take. We don’t want to see that happening in football, I get it, but I’ll stick up for my players."
West Ham had taken the lead just two minutes into the game through Dagny Brynjarsdottir when she turned home Kirsty Smith's corner before Honoka Hayashi doubled the visitors' lead in the 14th minute.
Villa improved as the game progressed with Mackenzie Arnold saving Alisha Lehman's second-half penalty before Kenza Dali grabbed a consolation for the hosts in the 77th minute.
West Ham currently sit sixth in the Women's Super League, having notched their second win of the season, while Villa also have six points but are two placed above the Hammers in fourth,
