Racist tweets follow penalty misses

Chelsea defender Ashley Cole and Manchester United winger Ashley Young were singled out for abuse on Twitter by one user.

In a series of offensive postings the user goaded others who criticised him for his rants.

In one post the tweeter wrote: “All I got to say is this was just a joke, you guys need to relax, police know i was kiddin around and they won’t bother me hopefully, cheers.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We are aware of alleged racist comments on Twitter following last night’s England game and have launched an investigation.”

He added that the Twitter account was supposedly based in London.