Mohamed Salah becomes the latest player to be targeted with racial abuse

Mohamed Salah became the latest player subjected to sickening racial abuse on Monday night during Liverpool's 1-1 draw with West Ham United. A video surfacing on social media, in which a West Ham supporter can be heard calling the Egypt international a "f*cking Muslim c*nt" as he took a corner for the Reds, is currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.

The Met police say that they are aware of the footage and are in the process of reviewing it. “No arrests have been made and enquiries continue,” a statement added. “Anyone who witnesses inappropriate behaviour during a match is urged to bring it to the attention of a steward or police officer.”

West Ham are also reviewing CCTV from Monday night's encounter and working closely with the police to find the culprit. Anyone found guilty will face a lifetime ban from the stadium.

A spokesperson for the Hammers said:

“At West Ham United, we have a zero tolerance policy to any form of violent or abusive behaviour. We are an inclusive football club. Regardless of age, race, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability, everyone is warmly welcomed at London Stadium.

“Anyone identified committing an offence will have their details passed to the police and will face a lifetime ban from London Stadium. There is no place for this kind of behaviour at our stadium.”

Sadly, incidents like this are becoming all too common in modern day football. Racism has always been prominent in our beloved sport, however as time has evolved, you'd have thought fans would have too but apparently that's not the case. This season alone we've seen Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have a banana skin thrown at him by an angry Tottenham fan after the 29-year-old netted a penalty in Arsenal's 4-2 win over Spurs in December.

Averof Panteli admitted throwing the object after being caught on CCTV following the game. The 57-year-old - who had been attending games since he was seven - claimed that there was no racial element to his actions, insisting that he only picked it up because it was the 'closest thing to him'. Magistrates decided that the incident was motivated by racism however and fined the Spurs fan £500, whilst also handing him a four-year football ban.

Raheem Sterling is another player who's been subjected to racial abuse this term. The England winger was called a "black c*nt" by a Chelsea fan in the Blues' 2-0 win over Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in December, with the culprit - Colin Wing - also handed a ban by the West London club. 60-year-old Wing, from Beckenham, insisted that he called Sterling a "Manc c*nt", however Chelsea were not in agreement and revoked his season ticket. The antiques dealer also lost his job following the incident.

Some of the worst cases of racism within football come in Europe's most competitive leagues. Kalidou Koulibaly faced a barrage of racial abuse during Napoli's recent 2-1 defeat to Inter Milan in December.

The Senegal defender was sent off at the San Siro after receiving two yellow cards, with large segments of Inter's crowd directing sickening racial slurs at him throughout the entire clash.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti said that his team asked for the match to be suspended because of the racial chants directed towards Koulibaly, but the referee ignored his wishes and the match went on to finish narrowly in Inter's favour after a last-minute goal from the hosts.

"The next time we'll stop playing, even if we lose the match," Ancelotti said.

"What happened today is not good not only for us but also for Italian football as a whole," added the 59-year-old.

"I'm very sorry about what happened to Koulibaly. The boy was on edge, he is an educated footballer who was targeted. Despite our requests the match was not interrupted. I'm unhappy because three times we asked for the match to be suspended."