Roman Babayev, the club’s general director, has branded claims the midfielder was racially abused as an attempt by the British to “smear” Russian football

CSKA Moscow are preparing a legal defence against claims that their fans racially abused Yaya Toure, says the club’s general director.

The Manchester City midfielder said that he was targeted by sections of the home support during his side’s 2-1 Champions League win in Russia on Wednesday.

City have since complained to Uefa regarding the alleged taunting, although CSKA have vehemently denied that any racist abuse took place and club official Roman Babayev insists that the incident has been exaggerated.

“We are preparing a legal argument,” the director is quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.

“We’re not denying the problem of racism on the whole, including at Russian stadiums, but, in this case, it seems that the situation is exaggerated.

“The match delegate didn’t hear any outburst of racism toward Yaya Toure and so, of course, didn’t document any during the course of the match.”

Babayev also criticised the British media for raising “hysteria” around the incident.

“The British do constantly try to find any reason to smear Russian football,” he added. “It is totally possible that in this case we’re running into this same intention.

“I read the main English publications and they are raising a real hysteria. They are writing that the fans wanted to almost lynch the dark-skinned players on the field and most journalists probably didn’t even watch the match.”