Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen has apologised through an official club account after he re-posted what was labelled as a racially offensive post to his Instagram page.
Huijsen, who signed for Real from Premier League side Bournemouth for £50 million last summer, re-posted a reel which was deemed offensive to Asian people on his official account.
The reel featured a photo of an Asian man and made a derogatory reference towards the shape of his eyes. Huijsen later deleted the re-post from his account, which has 5.2 million followers.
An apology was subsequently posted on Real's official account on Weibo, China's largest social media platform, in which Huijsen states that he 'unintentionally' shared the reel.
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The statement reads (translation via ESPN): "I sincerely apologise to my Chinese friends.
"I previously forward content that included offensive messages unintentionally.
"It was completely unintentional, and I regret the distress caused."
At the time of writing, the statement is yet to have been released on any other social media platform.
SPORTbible have contacted Real Madrid for further comment.
Huijsen is set to miss the second leg of Real's Champions League play-off tie against Benfica on Wednesday through a knee injury.
The first leg of the tie was overshadowed by allegations of racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior from Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Vinicius, who scored the only goal of the game for Real in a 1-0 win, reported Prestianni to the match referee and alleged that he made a racist remark towards him. Prestianni has denied any accusations of racial abuse.
UEFA are investigating the incident, and have provisionally suspended Prestianni prima facie for one match after receiving an interim report from an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector (EDI).
Prestianni is facing a minimum ban of 10 matches if he is found guilty of racial abuse, as per UEFA's anti-racism policies.
A UEFA statement on the Argentinian's suspension, which was announced on Monday afternoon, reads: "Following the appointment of a UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector (EDI) to investigate allegations of discriminatory behaviour during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Knock-out Play-off match between SL Benfica and Real Madrid CF on 17 February 2026, and upon request of the EDI with an interim report, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) today decided to provisionally suspend Mr. Gianluca Prestianni for the next (1) UEFA club competition match for which he would otherwise be eligible for the prima facie violation of Article 14 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations (DR) related to a discriminatory behaviour.
"This is without prejudice to any ruling that the UEFA disciplinary bodies may subsequently make following the conclusion of the ongoing investigation and its respective submission to the UEFA disciplinary bodies."
Topics: Real Madrid, Football, La Liga
Ryan Smart