FC Barcelona has apologized to the Japanese because of a racism clat about the former Dortmund professional Ousmane Dembélé (24) and Antoine Griezmann (30). "The club's management will do everything possible to guarantee that such situations will not recur in the future," said the Spanish football club's announcement published in Japanese on Wednesday. Both players have already apologized for their "derogatory actions and words" to Japanese hotel employees. The club will "take the necessary internal measures." It was not known whether there will be sanctions.

Meanwhile, the scandal has consequences for Griezmann. The Japanese company Konami terminated the contract with the French world champion just a few weeks after he was signed. “Konami Digital Entertainment believes, as is the philosophy of sport, that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable. We previously announced Antoine Griezmann as our Yu-Gi-Oh! Content ambassador, but in light of recent events, we've decided to cancel the contract, ”the company said. Barça will be asked to explain the details "of this case and its future actions."

A video has been circulating on the internet for a few days now that, according to media reports, is around two years old and was made in a hotel in the Asian country as part of a tour of Japan by FC Barcelona.

In it, Dembélé makes fun of several employees of the hotel who are trying to solve a technical problem in the room so that the two French international players can play a video game.

The former Dortmund resident says: “All these ugly faces just so you can play Pro Evolution Soccer.” And also: “What kind of backward language is that?

Are you technologically advanced in your country or not? ”Griezmann doesn't say anything in the recording, but laughs at Dembélé's statements.

Japanese online retailer Rakuten, FC Barcelona's shirt sponsor since early 2017, asked for an explanation on Tuesday. The club now emphasized that such "disrespectful" behavior had nothing in common with the values ​​of the Catalan club of national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen. "There is no place for racism at FC Barcelona," they say.