The Metropolitan police and the Football Association are both to investigate last night’s incident at Stamford Bridge when the Chelsea striker Didier Drogba threw a coin back at Burnley fans during their Carling Cup tie.
Drogba gestured at the visiting supporters and threw a coin that had apparently been thrown from their section of the stadium after the Ivorian opened the scoring for Chelsea. The Premier League leaders eventually lost on penalties to the Championship side after a 1-1 draw.
Drogba apolgised after the game last night, but a Metropolitan police spokesman said: “I can confirm we are investigating the incident. An inquiry is being conducted by the football unit at Fulham police station. No one has been arrested.”
An FA spokesman added today: “We are investigating. That’s all I can say until we have had a chance to look into it further.”
Drogba, who was shown the yellow card for his actions, said: “This is something I want to make clear. I tried to celebrate the goal and I received some things at me.
“The big mistake I did was to throw it back so if someone was hurt, I just want to apologise for it. This is not something I should show in a football match and I want to apologise. It was an incident in the heat of the moment and I regret it. It was just a mistake and nothing more.”
Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari denied seeing the incident.
“I have not spoken with Didier about any problem,” he said. “The referee gave him a yellow card but I did not see what happened.”
In 2002, Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was sent off in an FA Cup tie against Arsenal at Highbury after throwing a coin back into the crowd. He received a three-match ban. He was also interviewed by police but no further action was taken.
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