Italian club’s bizarre ‘Jackie Chan’ defence after Wolves claim Hwang Hee-chan was racially abused

Wolves are pressing ahead with a formal complaint to Uefa after being left bewildered by Italian club Como’s insistence that reporting alleged racial abuse of forward Hwang Hee-chan was “blowing the incident out of proportion”.

Hwang referred the incident to Wolves officials midway through the second half of a friendly between the two clubs in Marbella on Monday night, which resulted in a furious response from his team-mates that saw Daniel Podence sent off for punching a Como 1907 player.

Wolves are liaising with Uefa and the Football Association regarding the alleged abuse of the South Korea international, though Uefa has said it cannot investigate as it was not a competition match.

Como, managed by former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fàbregas and backed by Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, have responded to the allegation and appeared to blame Wolves’ players for overreacting.

“Our club does not tolerate racism and condemns all forms of it in the strongest possible way,” said Mirwan Suwarso, an official representative of the club’s ownership group.

“We spoke to the defender in question to understand what was said. He has told us the comment he made, to his co-defender, was ‘ignore him, he thinks he’s Jackie Chan’.

“Having spoken to our player at length, we are confident this was in reference to the player’s name, and to the constant references of ‘Channy’ made by his own team-mates on the pitch.

“As far as our club is concerned our player did not say anything in a derogatory manner. We are disappointed that the reaction of certain Wolves players has seen the incident blown out of proportion.”

Wolves manager Gary O’Neil said he had asked Hwang if he wanted the match to be abandoned or to be substituted but the 28-year-old wanted the game to continue.

Wolves won 1-0 at their training camp in Marbella, Spain.

“Channy [Hwang] will be OK. He’ll get our full support and we’ll pick him up in the morning and make sure he’s OK. It’s a together group,” the manager added.

Hwang also suffered “discriminatory abuse” from SC Farense fans in a pre-season friendly in 2022.

Wolves said at the time: “Racism or discrimination in any form is completely unacceptable and should never be left unchallenged.”