Corriere dello Sport editor Ivan Zazzaroni implies Roma and Milan “started this chaos” around the ‘Black Friday’ headline because of interviews, while “other clubs showed us solidarity.”
The front page story about Friday’s Inter v Roma match featured Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling, so use of the term ‘Black Friday’ was seen as racist.
Corriere dello Sport editor Ivan Zazzaroni implies Roma and Milan “started this chaos” around the ‘Black Friday’ headline because of interviews, while “other clubs showed us solidarity.”
The front page story about Friday’s Inter v Roma match featured Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling, so use of the term ‘Black Friday’ was seen as racist.
Despite both players publicly decrying the “insensitive” and “dumb” headline, with Roma and Milan boycotting the Corriere dello Sport for a month, editor Zazzaroni remains adamant there’s nothing racist about it.
“There was already no real relationship with Roma and Milan, as for a year-and-a-half we haven’t had interviews with their players. I think that is the origin of what started this chaos,” Zazzaroni told TeleLombardia.
“The other clubs called us to show solidarity. I don’t need to justify myself, as we’ve written so many articles in our paper about the battle against racism.
“We clarified the meaning behind today’s headline, it’s a play on words about the fact these two players are heroes of the anti-racism movement.
“The treatment we received today is practically racism against anti-racism. Lukaku’s agent (Federico) Pastorello even said there was a coming together with other publishing titles with the aim of diminishing these players. Let’s just say our exchange of views was unedifying.”
It’s not the first time that Zazzaroni has been vilified in public this season, as in July he was blasted by Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovic for revealing his leukaemia diagnosis ahead of an agreed blackout period.
“I continue to exchange messages with Sinisa and we have done since July 16,” insisted Zazzaroni.
“He told me the day after that press conference that he cared about me. Unfortunately, people don’t know what the story is there. I didn’t betray anyone’s confidence, because he is not the one who told me.”