LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom (AFP) — Bournemouth Captain Adam Smith said he was left shocked and angered after teammate Antoine Semenyo reported being racially abused by a fan during the Cherries’ 2-4 defeat at Liverpool in the opening game of the Premier League season.

The match was briefly halted after half-an-hour when Semenyo told Referee Anthony Taylor of the incident and both managers were informed.

A Liverpool fan who had been seen gesturing towards the Ghanaian as he took a throw-in was led away by police at half-time.

Semenyo showed remarkable poise to not only continue but go on to score twice in the second half, as Bournemouth came within minutes of holding the defending champions to a draw until late strikes by Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah.

“Totally unacceptable. Kind of in shock it happened in this day and age. I don’t know how Ant has carried on playing and come up with his goals,” said Smith.

Premier League players have taken a knee before matches as part of anti-racism campaigns in recent seasons, but Smith said the message is still not getting through.

Tottenham condemned the online racist abuse directed towards Mathys Tel this week after he missed a penalty in the Spurs’ UEFA Super Cup defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

“He’s a little bit down. Something needs to be done. Taking a knee has taken no effect,” Smith added.

“It’s more anger. Shocked. I said to the ref I wanted him removed immediately but the police went and sorted it. The Liverpool players were very supportive to Ant and the rest of the team. Just so angry.

“We’ve had discussions with the Premier League about it so they have been taking it seriously. I don’t know what else we can do. We’ve been doing it for a long time now and no one is getting it. I just feel sorry for Ant and he’s had to take that. The whole country is watching and it’s shocking.”

Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola said the incident had taken the shine off a thrilling start to the Premier League campaign on the field.

“It is a shame that [for] the first game of the Premier League, [with] both teams playing a really good game, we are speaking about this,” said the Spaniard.

“Most of the news will be about this thing; and it is still a big problem, not just in football but overall. We should be talking about how great the game has been.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slot spoke to Semenyo after the match and praised his mental strength.

“We definitely need to address this. It is unacceptable in every football stadium, let alone Anfield,” said the Dutchman.

“I spoke to him and said we will do whatever we can to find this person.

“Big credit to him. He’s not only a great player but is very strong mentally if something like that happened to have such a second-half performance.”

In a statement Liverpool said: “We condemn racism and discrimination in all forms. It has no place in society or football.

“The club is unable to comment further as tonight’s alleged incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which we will support fully.”