FILE PHOTO: Mike Maignan and his AC Milan team-mates left the pitch during the match at Udinese. PICTURE: SkySports
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0 JOHANNESBURG: The Serie A has had challenges in the past with racism targeted at black players.
AC Milan’s 3-2 away victory against Udinese was overshadowed by racist events, which appear to persist in the Serie A, a top division of Italian football.
Mike Maignan (28) was racially abused by the Udinese fans in the first half of the league encounter, thereby forcing the keeper and his teammates to leave the field. As a result, the match was stopped for 10 minutes to allow the situation to subside.
The incident occurred moments after Milan’s Ruben Loftus Cheek scored the opener just after the half hour mark. The French shot-stopper was attempting a goal-kick when the first and second racist incidents occurred. After the first taunt, he alerted the match official and an announcement was made at the stadium to warn fans to stop what they were doing.
However, they did not heed the warning and continued to taunt the goalkeeper who eventually walked off the field in the 33rd minute.
According to what Maignan told Sky Sports Italy, the racist taunts happened more than once. “It’s not the first time it has happened this way. They must hand out very strong sanctions, because talking no longer does anything,” he said.
“We have to say what they are doing is wrong,” he continued, “It is not the whole ground, most fans want to cheer on their team and jeer you that’s normal but not this”.
Eventually, the match resumed and ended 3-2 in favour of Milan, but the key talking points were the racist chants and Milan’s players walking off. After the match, AC Milan took to social media to express its support for the player.
“There is absolutely no place in our game for racism: we are appalled,” said the club on X (formerly known as Twitter), before adding: “We are with you Mike.”
The Serie A has had challenges in the past with racism targeted at black players. In 2019, former Italian international player Mario Balotelli, threatened to walk off the field when he was racially abused by fans. He was convinced by his teammates to stay on the field.
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