Watch: Arteta highlights ‘terrible consequences’ of online abuse after Havertz targeted

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has flagged the “terrible consequences” of online abuse after Kai Havertz and his wife were targeted on social media following Sunday’s FA Cup loss to Manchester United.

Havertz missed chances during the game at the Emirates and failed to convert his penalty in the shootout as the Gunners crashed out of the competition.

The Germany international came in for stinging critism but his wife also shared screenshots of abuse she received on social media, including threats to the couple’s unborn child.

Arteta on social media hate 👏👏

People should really thing about what they write online. The social media discourse is a disgrace and it affects the club you claim to love.pic.twitter.com/CT4NDqQZ17

— 🇳🇴 kimmoFC (@kimmoFC) January 14, 2025

“For anyone to think it’s OK to write something like this is so shocking to me. I hope you are so ashamed of yourself,” Sophia Havertz wrote as she shared one of the direct messages with her 500,000-plus followers on Instagram.

Arsenal have reported the abuse to the police and are working with a specialist data firm to try to identify the culprits.

Arteta addressed the issue on Tuesday, on the eve of the north London derby against Tottenham.

“It’s incredible, honestly. And we really have to do something about it, because accepting that and hiding this, I think has terrible consequences,” he told reporters.

“And it’s something that we really have to eradicate from the game, because it’s so cynical as well.”

The Spaniard pointed out that the whole stadium was singing in support of Havertz after he scored in a 1-0 win against Ipswich less than three weeks ago.

“Guys, what is the perspective? So we are all responsible, and all means you guys (reporters) are responsible, everybody is responsible for the narrative, everybody is responsible for how we talk, and we cannot look somewhere else.

“That’s a really serious matter. And it affects him, and it affects me, it affects everybody that is in the industry.

“And we can accept, and we say ‘That’s our job’, yes, but there are certain limits, and the line has to be drawn. And we put a lot of attention on that about technology, and what is next. What is next in football might be that this is prohibited. It cannot happen. That’s it.”