There was another worrying racism incident in Italian sport after security tried to block Atalanta striker Duvan Zapata from entering his bank, with media blaming the Colombia international’s ‘outfit.’
According to the Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere di Bergamo newspapers, the centre-forward had tried to enter the Fideuram building in Bergamo, which is a private banking institution, where he had an appointment to meet his personal financial advisor.
He was stopped at the door by the security staff, who it is claimed were put off by his ‘outfit’ of jogging bottoms and hoodie, along with what was rather diplomatically described as ‘a suspicious air.’
They were said to have told him “this is not the place for you.”
Duvan Zapata, to his absolute credit, kept calm and tried to prove his identity to the security figures, before a member of staff came to his rescue and pointed out he was a regular client.
The security were, it was assured, freelance and not regulars at that building.
It is another worrying incident in a week of them in Italy, after volleyball star Paola Egonu was reduced to tears and threatened to quit the Azzurri squad after insults from racist trolls on social media who claimed she was ‘not even Italian.’
A youth football team stormed off the pitch in protest after the opposition side’s coach called one of their players a racist term.