BURNLEY players refused to shake hands with Preston’s Milutin Osmajic’s amid a racism row before their 3-0 FA Cup defeat.
The two Championship clubs drew 0-0 in February in the league.
But the match was marred in controversy after Osmajic was accused of making a racist remark to Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri.
The FA are still investigating the incident meanwhile the teams drew each other in the fifth round of the cup.
During the pre-match handshakes, Burnley players snubbed Osmajic.
But the drama did not stop there as the Preston forward scored before half-time to double the host’s lead after Robbie Brady‘s opener.
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And Osmajic caused more controversy after putting his hands to his ears to goad the travelling Burnley fans.
And ex-Manchester United forward Will Keane made it 3-0 to wrap the game up.
Burnley manager Scott Parker confirmed Hannibal was fit but he left out the Tunisia midfielder to protect him from the spotlight.
Parker told BBC iPlayer before kick-off: “As I said earlier in the week in the press conference, fundamentally I need to protect Hannibal and making sure of the right decision.
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“It has been a tough decision and we come here a bit weakened today because Hannibal is a vitally important member of this squad, and I felt it was the best decision for Hannibal.
“I wouldn’t want to put him in a situation here, so we have made the decision for the best for Hannibal.
“That is why he is not in the matchday squad.”
Asked whether he spoke with Hannibal, Parker said: “It was mainly my decision.
“Hannibal was selectable today but he is a young boy that experienced something here only a few weeks ago and I just made that decision to keep him out of here and we have another game on Tuesday.”
If found guilty, Osmajic faces a minimum six-match ban as the FA continue their probe.
Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom admitted he had not considered the idea of leaving Osmajic out.
Asked whether he was taking an approach of “innocent until proven guilty” – Heckingbottom replied: “Yes, exactly – 100 per cent.”
In October, Osmajic was hit with an eight-match ban after biting Blackburn’s Owen Beck.
The incident took place during Preston’s 0-0 draw with Rovers in September.
Osmajic was only shown a yellow during the game and was able to play in Preston’s next two games.
But the FA launched an investigation and subsequently charged him.
Osmajic missed Preston’s next eight matches and was also fined £15,000.
Parker backed his squad after their handshake snub, as he said: “The players made that decision as a group.
“The players decided that that was a stance they were going to take. I was fully supportive of that when I found out.
“If that’s the decision this group wanted to take out of support and an understanding of more clarity and more of an understanding of the situation, that’s the decision they made.
“I was fully supportive of that.”
Parker held talks with Hannibal this week and despite the ex-United man being in a good frame of mind decided to leave him out.
He said: “Hannibal is in a good frame. There was an opportunity to play him and I made the conscious decision.
The players decided that that was a stance they were going to take. I was fully supportive of that when I found out.
Scott Parker
“I made the decision to take him out of that situation. There’s a live investigation going on now and there’s no conclusion to it.
“I didn’t want to put Hannibal in a situation today which is still up in the air. Because that’s what it is.
“He’s coming to an away stadium. Maybe against a player that the allegations are against. And a fan base which people are making up their minds about whether it was or whether it wasn’t.
“My decision which took me a long time and a lot of thinking about was one that I just wanted to protect Hannibal.”
Osmajic scored the second of Preston’s three goals as they reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 1966.
Preston fans responded late on by chanting “Are you watching Hannibal?”.
Parker added: “It’s made me sad really.
“I’m sure he would have been fine today. But I’ve been around football a long time. I understand fanbases.
“I didn’t want to put him in this situation.”
North End boss Paul Heckingbottom said: “It’s about could he be professional enough to give a performance for us?
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“That was it. That’s what the conversations were about. If I felt or he felt that he couldn’t be professional enough then we wouldn’t have been involved.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
