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Imagine meeting a professional athlete, only to be ignored.

Over the weekend, before a soccer (football) match between Chelsea FC and Burnley FC, fans noticed a clip of Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher shaking the hands of one of the young child mascots, but ignoring the handshake of another.

Not a big deal right?

The problem is that the child Gallagher acknowledged was white and the child he ignored was Black.

Watch the interaction below:

This led to Gallagher receiving hate all over his social media, with many claiming that what he did was racist and discriminatory. Comments on his latest Instagram post aren’t pretty.

Many have come to the defense of the 24-year-old English soccer player, including Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino, who made a statement on Wednesday prior to his team’s matchup against Manchester United.

“That has upset me so much because no one wants to do something like this with this intention,” Pochettino said. “He was so wary of too many videos, photography and pictures about if he was really aware of both mascots. When you play football, when you are there and you are focusing on too many things, you focus to play, to start the game, that sometimes can happen.”

“But I think people want to abuse people. People always try to find things to create a mess and to abuse the people that, if you know…I know Conor. I know the people that are involved here in Chelsea. I can talk for the people that I know and come on, never is that intention. Conor is a great, great kid and is always caring about everything.”

Chelsea FC also released a statement, saying that the video was “taken out of context” and that “The subsequent level of abuse and defamatory comments directed towards Conor Gallagher is completely unacceptable. We are proud to be a diverse, inclusive club where people from all cultures, communities and identities feel welcome.”

What are your thoughts? Did Gallagher ignore the Black child intentionally? Or was he too focused on the upcoming match?