Daniel Podence Punches Como Man as Wolves’ Hwang Allegedly Racially Abused

Daniel Podence was given a red card for throwing a punch during Wolverhampton Wanderers’ friendly vs Como 1907 in which striker Hwang Hee-chan was allegedly racially abused. The Premier League club have since stated they will be submitting a formal complaint to UEFA.

Wolves finished 14th in the English top flight and will be looking to do even better this season as they make preparations for the new campaign in Italy. The pre-season match, however, has been marred by this unfortunate event.

Hwang Hee-chan allegedly racially abused

Daniel Podence swung at Como player

Per Express and Star, Wolves were leading the game up until the 68th minute when a coming together between players of both sides ended with “Podence swinging at a defender and receiving a straight red card”. It was said that the “incident flared” after Hwang accused a Como player of racist abuse. Consequently, Wolves’ players were furious in the aftermath.

Players and coaches of both teams were in discussion for several minutes and Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil spoke to Hwang, who has been linked with a move to Marseille this summer, offering him the opportunity to abandon the match. Despite it all, the South Korean forward chose to continue and complete the game – which finished 1-0.

Gary O’Neil speaks out

Per The Times, Wolverhampton Wanderers have condemned the incident and will now submit a formal complaint to UEFA. They are seeking further punishment, with a statement reading: “Racism or discrimination in any form is completely unacceptable and should never be left unchallenged.”

O’Neil addressed the incident when speaking after the game, calling it a “really disappointing” situation. In full, he said:

“Channy heard a racist remark which is really disappointing. I spoke to Channy about it, checked whether he wanted to take the team off or come off himself, but he was keen the team carried on and got the work they needed. It’s really disappointing that it happened, that we have to talk about it and that it impacted the game – not ideal and things like that shouldn’t be around.

“He’s really disappointed, of course, and understandably. I’m proud of the fact that he wanted to carry on and put his team first in a difficult moment for him. He knew it was a pre-season trip and he wanted the lads to work and get their minutes, even though he’d suffered something hugely offensive. Channy will be OK, he’ll get our full support and we’ll pick him up in the morning and make sure he’s OK.”

He went on to add: “It’s a together group. Of course, there’s ways to handle that and we don’t want to leave ourselves short on the pitch, but it’s a together group. We’ve worked really hard this week, had a good week, had some great moments in the game, but it’s an unfortunate incident we have to deal with and have to discuss when, ideally, we’d be talking about the game. Of course, when an incident like that happens in a game, it’s the first thing we discuss.”

Como are yet to officially respond to the allegations.

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