Cardiff City's Krystian Bielik is at the heart of a police investigation after he appeared to grab the throat of a young Portsmouth fan during their 2-0 Championship defeat on the south coast.

The bizarre incident occurred in the 70th minute at Fratton Park, with Cardiff trailing 2-0 to the hosts on Saturday.

As former Arsenal academy graduate Bielik attempted to gather the ball from the stands, a Portsmouth supporter beat him to it and threw it away from him.

That act caused the 28-year-old to be aggrieved with Bielik seen reaching out towards the fan's throat and pushing them away.

The fan responded by standing up and appearing to try to push Bielik in retaliation. Following a delay, the supporter involved in the incident was ejected from the stadium for their part in the incident while Bielik avoided punishment.

And on Sunday afternoon, Hampshire Police announced that an investigation into an alleged assault is underway, as per BBC Sport.

'We can confirm that we are investigating an incident in which a teenage boy was reportedly the victim of a common assault during the football match at Fratton Park. Our enquiries are ongoing,' the police said.

Portsmouth also released a statement confirming that it was now being handled by the police and was the subject of a 'safeguarding matter'.

'Portsmouth Football Club are aware of supporter concerns regarding the incident involving a young fan and an opposition player at yesterday's match at Fratton Park,' their statement begins.

'As this remains a safeguarding matter and is currently under investigation by both the club and the police, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further on the circumstances at this time.

'However, we are aware that a number of claims and assertions are circulating on social media. We would urge caution against speculation while enquiries are ongoing.

'The welfare and safeguarding of young people are of paramount importance to Portsmouth Football Club. We will continue to liaise with the relevant parties as enquiries progress.

'No further comment will be made at this stage while investigations remain ongoing.'

Both Portsmouth manager John Mousinho and his Cardiff counterpart Brian Barry-Murphy were spoken to by the referee, as well as captains from both teams.

Portsmouth would ultimately go on to secure a 2-0 victory over their newly promoted opponents.

Bielik, 28, was making just his fourth appearance for Cardiff after joining the Bluebirds last month.

Barry-Murphy claimed post-match that Bielik 'got slapped in the face' by the fan and praised the referee's handling of the incident.

'I wanted to make sure he (Bielik) was protected and make sure he was okay, which he is.

'I thought the referee and his staff handled the incident impeccably.

'He said he'd seen everything which occurred really clearly, so he defused the situation and implemented the correct processes from there.

'The players are always subjected to different things that's not acceptable.

'My job is to protect the players, but really I'm trying to make sure that we play well and win.

'I'm sure the FA will look at it and implement the correct processes.'

Portsmouth boss Mousinho offered an apology to Cardiff and their players following the incident.

'The referee said that, as Krystian went to get the ball, there was a little bit of a kerfuffle and one of the supporters struck him.

'It wasn't a good incident. I have just seen him there, and he was OK, but that's not the point, we can't be having that.

'We want to create a really difficult atmosphere at Fratton Park, we have done that successfully over the past few years.

'Sometimes it tips over, I understand that, I don't think it needs to tip over to that extent.

'We extend our apologies to the players, Cardiff and make sure we can try to cut it out.'