Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has been forced to shut down his Twitter account over racist abuse.

Mikel removed his profile from the social networking site less than 24 hours after his mistake helped cost the Blues victory in the opening match of their Champions League defence against Juventus.

Chelsea tonight admitted that they have informed the police about the tweets.

A statement read: "We've been made aware of racist tweets targeted at Mikel which are totally unacceptable, disgusting and abhorrent.

"We've informed the police and support taking the strongest possible action."