DUNDEE UNITED have launched an investigation after Hibernian player Jair Tavares was subjected to racist abuse at Tannadice.

Hibs earlier approached United after former Easter Road midfielder Marvin Bartley highlighted a clip from the game on social media where a slur was shouted as the Portuguese forward tried to retrieve the ball during his side’s 1-0 cinch Premiership defeat on Tuesday night. 

The footage came from United’s in-house coverage.

A statement from the Tayside club read: “The footage appeared to transmit either racist or other derogatory language used within the stadium.

“We are investigating the incident and are working to isolate the area of the stadium where the audio has been picked up and determine the content clearly.

“Dundee United has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and racists are simply not welcome inside Tannadice Park.”

Edinburgh club Hibs said: “Hibernian have made contact with Dundee United regarding this and would strongly support any investigation into this matter. We encourage anyone with information that could help identify the individual to come forward.”

Livingston assistant manager Bartley earlier implored footballing authorities to take swift action.

The former Hibs midfielder, who is also the equality and diversity adviser to the Scottish FA, tweeted a video of the interaction and wrote: “I tried and tried to convince myself that I had misheard this, but after listening multiple times, I’m unfortunately right. To hear someone shout this and abuse someone for their skin colour breaks my heart.

“We’re now at a point where either the authorities do something about it or they simply tell us they don’t care. I wish I could explain the pain and heartache this sort of stuff causes but it’s impossible to put into words. My heart genuinely goes out to Jair, all he was trying to do was his job and getting the ball to speed up play.

“There is no chance that the people around him didn’t hear the scumbag who shouted this. I hope the ones who did report it to the club, but if they don’t then the SFA and SPFL need to come down hard because this is as clear as it gets.

“We can’t allow these people to ruin our beautiful game or ruin the reputation of a country I’m glad to call home. Nights like tonight are hard to deal with and I was only listening, it was aimed at Jair.”