Milutin Osmajic taunts Burnley fans after Burnley players refuse his handshake amid the racism row from the previous meeting two weeks ago.
In the Championship fixture, on the 15th of February, Osmajic allegedly racially abused Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri with the Football Association (FA) investigating, and if Osmajic is found guilty, he reported faces a minimum six-game ban.
Osmajic, who “strongly refuted” the allegations, had been named in Preston’s starting XI for the tie on Saturday lunchtime, while Hannibal was left out of the Burnley squad entirely.
As the pre-match handshakes took place, none of the Burnley players offered their hands to Osmajic, who was last in the line of Preston players filing along the Clarets XI.
He reached out to try and shake hands with a couple of Burnley players, but ended up walking past the rest of the line without interacting with them.
Osmajic then did hand gestures towards the Burnley fans when he scored during the first half to put Preston 2-0 up, cupping his ears before celebrating with his team-mates.
Burnley players refused to shake Milutin Osmajic’s hand before kick-off.
The Preston player has been accused of racially abusing Hannibal Mejbri.#FACup pic.twitter.com/EsopOVjQXe
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) March 1, 2025
Milutin Osmajic gestured towards the Burnley fans after scoring Preston’s second goal.
The PNE forward has been accused of racially abusing Hannibal Mejbri, who was left out of Scott Parker’s squad.#FACup #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/kywg9Ux5gR
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) March 1, 2025
Prior to kick off, Burnley boss Scott Parker confirmed Hannibal was fit but he had chosen to leave out the Tunisia midfielder to protect him from the spotlight.
Parker said to 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.
“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 the decision was made after speaking 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.”
Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom said he hadn’t considered the idea of leaving Osmajic out. Asked at his pre-match media conference whether he was taking an approach of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, Heckingbottom replied: “Yes, exactly – 100%.”
Burnley manager Scott Parker speaking to BBC Sport: “The real basics of the game didn’t happen for us today. We tried to chase the game a little bit but it is fair to say that the better team won today. We were just a little bit short.
“I understand that we were a little bit short due to the conditions, the pitch but that’s just the way it was. We’ll regroup now, we’ll learn from it. We’ll head on now to the main mission and get ready for Tuesday night [away at Cardiff City].
Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom speaking to BBC Sport: “For the club, it is huge, for the fans it is huge. I didn’t realise until this week, it is almost 60 years since we reached the quarter-finals.”
“It makes a welcome change from the league. a 46-game league is tough. You get the excitement in the cup, we have gone through and we don’t know what we’re going to get.”
On who he wants to get in the next round: “Home draw and I’m happy.”
Preston defender Kaine Kesler Hayden speaking to BBC Sport: “Really sweet victory. The week building up to it was great, we were all excited and we knew the atmosphere would be amazing.”
On going 2-0 up against Burnley: “Obviously, Burnley had made changes but with their clean sheet record, to get three goals is massive so we are all just buzzing.”
“The focus for the week was making the quarter-finals. I’m on loan here and I have loved my time here so far. Hopefully, we can get a big team in the quarter-finals.”
On what Paul Heckingbottom has brought to the side: “Energy and confidence, he puts a lot of trust in the team. He believes in me and I’m just buzzing to have a good performance.”
Preston North End striker Milutin Osmajic could find himself under more scrutiny from the FA following his goal celebration, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking to Football Insider, the former referee said:
“I think what helped that situation in all honesty – and it shouldn’t have taken place – I can understand the frustration and everything that goes on, but the real thing for me was that his own player, colleague, I think saved him from a yellow card.
“I think that player coming in quickly and almost ushering him away, albeit as part of the celebration sort of dampened down the conflict that could have arisen and in a way he’s stayed on the pitch.
“The FA have made it very clear that they’re unhappy abut celebrations of goals, and this may well come under that category.
“So I would not be surprised if the FA take a look at it, understanding all that’s going off, and he will get, the club of through his manager they may well get some correspondence saying ‘look, take care’.
“In the meantime of course there’s an in-depth investigation, so it might all wrap in as one, watch this space…
“In fairness looking from a refereeing perspective, he would have been prepared, the referee will have done his homework he will have been aware of the situation he will have watched the handshake process and maybe he’s decided ‘I’m also going to give a bit of a tolerance here, let it breathe a bit and not get too officious.”
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