Lazio confirm that Loum Tchaouna was subjected to racist abuse during their Europa League win away to FC Twente and that he was substituted because ‘he was not in the right mindset’ to continue.
The incident happened at the Grolsch Veste Stadium in Enschede during the final minutes of this evening’s match.
Moments after the second goal was scored by Gustav Isaksen, adding to the earlier Pedro effort, Lazio were preparing to make a substitution to bring Pedro off for defender Gil Patric.
However, coach Marco Baroni became aware that Tchaouna was in distress, arguing with some of the Twente players and pointing to the stands behind the benches.
Tchaouna targeted by racist abuse
When the tension started to rise, Baroni decided to change his substitution at the last moment and instead take Tchaouna off for Patric.
As he walked off, the former Salernitana midfielder told the members of the Biancocelesti staff that there had been monkey noises aimed at him.
“I think he heard some monkey noises and was obviously upset. I tried to reassure him,” Baroni told Sky Sport Italia.
“The fourth official recognised the situation, I was about to replace Pedro, but I saw Tchaouna was not in the right mindset to remain on the pitch and allowed me to change the substitution.”
It remains to be seen if UEFA will take action against FC Twente or if these chants were also heard by the fourth official.
Lazio were already fined and saw two sections of the Curva Nord closed following racist chants towards OGC Nice players in the Europa League this season.
Let’s see if UEFA enforces sanctions against FC Twente or, as typical, UEFA selectively enforces it’s rules when applied to Italian based teams.