Former Juventus star Blaise Matuidi called for Serie A to ‘do something’ in order to stop racist abuse in the stands after offensive chants coming from Lazio‘s away end at Lecce targeted home players Samuel Umtiti and Lameck Banda.
The former Barcelona defender was seen leaving the pitch in tears at the end of a match that saw his side come back from behind to defeat the Biancocelesti 2-1, and Matuidi took to social media to express all his support to the player and condemn the racist act.
“Full support to my brother Samuel Umtiti”, he tweeted. “We need to wake up!!! We’re in 2023. Let’s do something Serie A. #NoToRacism”.
The former France international played 98 Serie A games for the Bianconeri between 2017 and 2020, and was himself a victim of racial abuse back in 2018 during Juventus’ 3-1 win at Cagliari.
On that occasion, he also responded through social media, posting a message on his Facebook account which read: “Weak people try to intimidate with hate”.
so true, but typical im the only one writing in here
No, you’re not. Italy has this problem and it won’t stop, especially in the capital where they still think they have the Roman Empire. It’s a systemic problem. Berlusconi saying Obama had a nice tan etc etc etc.
Football fans are not the smartest of people usually, and football is a very tribal game. As such they will use anything( height, weight, hair, skin colour) to antagonise and demean the opposition. I am not saying it’s right, but it’s a fact of life.
And this is a football problem. I refuse to take my young boy to watch a live game. Rugby is great. You can sit rival fans together and even take alcohol to your seats. What a difference.
When one of these animals gets home after screaming and abusing another human being and looks in the mirror or in the eyes of his child what does he see?