Frankfurt and Hoffenheim respond to racism claims after Liverpool U18s walk off pitch

Eintracht Frankfurt and Hoffenheim have rejected claims their team players racially abused one of Liverpool's Under 18s at the Bundesliga Cup youth tournament last week .

The Reds U18s walked off the pitch twice in Germany last week after one of their players alleged he had been racially abused in back-to-back games on consecutive days. On Friday, the team walked off when they faced off against Hoffenheim.

Then a day later, they did so again, walking off against Frankfurt after the same player alleged he had been targeted once more. Liverpool then released a club statement following the two incidents, writing: "Liverpool FC can confirm that a member of our under-18s team reported he was racially abused by an opponent while playing in the Bundesliga Cup youth tournament at Schwabisch Hall in Germany on Friday.

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They added: "The player immediately alerted the match official, his team-mates and our coaching staff. Consequently, LFC’s management team decided to stop the game and leave the pitch together.

"In a further incident, the same player was the target of abuse during a fixture in the tournament today. Again, the player alerted his team-mates and coaching staff and our management team opted to leave the pitch once more."

The Athletic reports both incidents involve a dispute over what was alleged to have been said. Against Frankfurt, the Bundesliga side claim their player said "digga", which translates into German slang as "bro".

However, following Liverpool's claims, both Frankfurt and Hoffenheim have rejected suggestions their players used racist language, with the former's sporting director, Timmo Hardung, stating there had been a "misunderstanding".

"We can rule out racism. It is a linguistic issue," Hardung told Bild. "We therefore hope that we have also cleared up the misunderstanding with the players concerned and those responsible at Liverpool FC ." Hardung added racism "has no place here" and says Frankfurt took "such an accusation seriously".

Hoffenheim are also reported to have offered up a similar explanation following Friday's incident but it has also been alleged the second incident was witnessed by a number of Liverpool's U18s.