Former Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has opened up on the racist abuse he suffered while playing in Serie A and extended his sympathies towards Romelu Lukaku after his recent battles with discriminatory abuse in Italy.
The 31-year-old centre-back explained that he was left feeling ‘ashamed’ after several vile instances of racism coming from the stands while playing for the Partenopei.
In a hard-hitting interview with the Times, the Chelsea defender revealed that Napoli helped him to ‘be proud’ and ‘keep fighting’ through the vulgar abuse he had experienced.
He told the paper: “In the beginning, it was very hard. I was maybe ashamed. Sometimes I was asking myself, maybe I am the problem? Maybe I should not be here.
“When I was alone at home, I felt shame, but Napoli helped a lot because they told me to be proud of what I am and keep fighting.”
“I teach my children to be equal, to be proud to be mixed race, proud of what they are. If you have not [suffered racism], you don’t know how it feels and even me, before it happened to me, I was like, ‘Why [is a player] reacting like this? You should be quiet’. But, no, you should shout. This is the way to fight racism.”
The Senegal national team captain also spoke of Lukaku after the racist abuse he suffered during Inter’s 1-1 draw with Juventus in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final at the beginning of the month.
Racist chants and monkey noises were heard coming from certain individuals in the stands of the Allianz Stadium.
Lukaku converted a dramatic 95th minute penalty to level the tie, before covering his ear and lifting a finger to his mouth in celebration, which led to the Belgian’s sending off right at the end of the match.
“I’m really sorry for Lukaku,” Koulibaly said. “I know what passed through his head, He didn’t harm nobody, didn’t say anything bad, just made a gesture of what he was feeling. This image [of Lukaku’s celebration] was beautiful.”