Mesut Ozil's father has revealed that his son has been the subject of racist abuse on Twitter while on international duty with Germany this summer.
The Real Madrid midfielder suffered the alleged abuse following the conclusion of Germany's 2-1 win over Denmark on Sunday evening.
While the culprit has had his account on the social networking site deleted, Mustafa Ozil has revealed that his son is in the process of taking legal action to help prevent other members of the German squad with foreign roots from suffering in the way that he has.
"Mesut was born in Germany, and has done a lot for Germany and the integration of others. He's a great kid, and it hurts us to see these things happen. It doesn't affect his game, though," Ozil senior told TZ.
"This crossed the line and we've filed a complaint to prevent this from happening again. This time it's aimed at Mesut, but the next time they could be after Jerome Boateng, Lukas Podolski, Sami Khedira or Ilkay Gundogan. This is unacceptable.
"It's not the first time that something like this happens, but we want to make a clear statement now. We no longer want to accept this."
Ozil has made 36 appearances for the German national team.