Gianfranco Zola has expressed his disappointment at the alleged racist remark which resulted in a Watford under-19 side abandoning a match in Italy yesterday.

Watford's youth team coach David Hughes told his players to leave the field 15 minutes into the second half against an under-19 side from Serie B club Latina.

Hughes refused to comment on the matter when he was asked this morning but head coach Zola has spoken with the former Cardiff City defender about the incident.

Zola said: "I have had a chat with Dave Hughes and he reported some things to me. We are looking into it to see what happened exactly.

"I am certainly not pleased about it and I do not like it but before I say any more I want to find out more about what happened from the organisers. I need to have the bigger picture before commenting any more."

He did clarify: "It looks like it was something between players but I am trying to find out more because I only spoke to Dave Hughes quickly last night."

Watford as a club have yet to release a statement on the matter but racism charity Kick It Out did tweet: "Kick It Out is making enquiries into an alleged racist incident which took place during the 'Wojtyla Cup' fixture between Watford and Latina."

The Hornets were 1-0 down to Latina at the time the game was called off.

Hughes can be seen calling his players off the field five minutes and 29 seconds into the video below.