Hannibal speaks out on incident involving Preston's Milutin Osmajic as Burnley release statement amid investigation

Burnley have issued a statement addressing an incident that took place between Hannibal Mejbri and Preston North End's Milutin Osmajic during the Lancashire derby on Saturday.

At the start of the second-half, a visibly emotional Hannibal made his way over to the Deepdale dugout to complain about a comment made by Osmajic.

After the final whistle, Burnley manager Scott Parker suggested an "inappropriate" comment was made towards the former Manchester United midfielder, who was left "very distressed" by the incident.

“It was just something that was said to Hannibal, something inappropriate which he's reported," Parker said in his post-match interview.

“We could clearly see he was very distressed in that moment and we tried to firstly get some context of what exactly has happened, because he was obviously very emotional. We tried to get some context on exactly what happened."

Parker added: "He explained to me what was said and at that moment, it was a case of just finding how he is and where he was in his headspace and what he wanted us to do.

“It will go down to process now, so we’ll see. But I thought the officials were brilliant in terms of how they dealt with it. I thought they were spot on. I thought the way they handled it and dealt with the whole situation was first-class to them."

Hannibal, who completed a permanent transfer to Burnley in August last year, has since taken to X, formerly Twitter, to release a statement of his own.

He wrote: "I will not be silent about what happened today. I will always call out racism whenever I hear or see it. That is the only way we change as a sport and a society."

The 22-year-old added: "I am a strong person but nobody should have to experience this disgusting abuse on the pitch."

Burnley have also released a statement to address the incident.

It read: "Burnley Football Club is aware of an alleged comment made to Hannibal by Milutin Osmajic during our game against Preston North End which was reported to officials both during and after the game.

"During the second-half Hannibal made referee Andrew Kitchen aware of the comment who has registered the complaint. The Club would like to thank the officials for their professional handling of the incident.

"The Club will continue to show its complete support to Hannibal and there will be no further comment made until the investigation has been completed."

Hannibal would remain on the pitch after the incident but a short time later, he was replaced by Josh Brownhill – a decision Parker explained after the game.

“He didn't want to come off,” Parker added. “But obviously I was conscious. This is the first time this has ever happened to me as a coach. I've never been involved in a player reporting to me or this sort of incident.

“There were a lot of factors going through my head. But he reacted in the right way, considering what was said.”

Asked if he was able to repeat what was said, Parker replied: “I wouldn't want to get involved in that. I think it's clear that you have some understanding along the lines.

“All I know is what Hannibal said to me, and I've worked with Hannibal now for seven months and don't get me wrong, he's an emotional guy, but he's a diamond of a kid and he's not a liar.

“What he heard and what he's repeated back to me is something... yeah, you don't want to see that.”

After the full-time whistle, Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom also commented on the incident involving Milutin Osmajic.

“From up there it looked like there was some sort of allegation against Milly, whether he's said something or not,” he said.

“It looked like the referee handled it well in terms of the procedures, what's meant to happen and he diffused everything. So I don't know what was the cause of it but it just looked like the ref handled it all well.

“I'm seeing the same as you guys. I've not spoken to the referee; I've not spoken to anyone other than our staff and I'm not too sure anyone down there knew.

“Milly could have been shouting in any language under the sun... shouting anything when you've heard him ranting. So it could have been anything.”