Mike Maignan explains why he walked off when subjected to racist abuse from Udinese fans, thanking Milan for their support. ‘We need strong sanctions, because talking no longer does anything.’
Ruben Loftus-Cheek had put the visitors in front and then play was halted for five minutes due to repeated racist abuse aimed at Maignan.
He alerted the referee to the insults coming from right behind his goal and Fabio Maresca suspended the game, as per the anti-racism protocol, while statements were read out warning the match would be abandoned permanently if it continued.
“What happened in the first half is that at the first goal kick I heard monkey noises, I said nothing. The second time I went to get the ball, I heard it again. I told the fourth official and my bench what happened,” Maignan told Sky Sport Italia.
“I said we cannot play football like this. It is not the first time it has happened this way. We have to say that what they are doing is wrong. It is not the whole crowd, most fans want to cheer on their team and jeer you, that’s normal, but not this.”
Maignan stormed off down the tunnel, followed by his teammates and coaching staff trying to calm him down, but play resumed after five minutes.
“We have a very strong group, we are a family and everyone came over to support me. We came back out wanting to work even harder to win, because the best response is to win.”
Udinese have many black players in the squad, who also showed support to Maignan when he came back out.
The France international was asked what he would say if he could speak to those Udinese fans who had insulted him.
“I couldn’t meet anyone right now. They must have very strong sanctions, because talking no longer does anything.”
The panel in the Sky Sport Italia studio asked what they could do to genuinely help combat racism in football.
“To help all the players who suffered this abuse. Those who do these things are ‘fans’, so if they can be left at home and not allowed in the stadium, that is a strong signal. When you love football, you want to come to the stadium and cheer on your team, teach it to your kids. If kids are there and see their family or friends acting like this, it is shameful.”
Udinese are one of the few teams in Serie A who run their own private stadium and therefore are in the unusual position of being able to identify and ban specific individuals.
This is very difficult to do in other stadiums, because the clubs do not control the security and must rely on the police, who have a considerably higher threshold to take action.
“We players can only react like this, saying what happens on the pitch. Those who need to take strong action are the prosecutors, as they always evaluate our words after games and then nothing happens.”
Maignan also spoke to DAZN and confirms when he went down the tunnel, he had no intention of going back onto the pitch.
“I was angry, because this isn’t the first time it has happened. I did not want to play, but we are a family and I could not leave my teammates like that.”
Former teammate and current club Senior Advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic came down to the tunnel to talk to the players during this suspension.
“He told me to stay strong mentally, that the best response would be winning this game.”
Udinese turned the game around to lead 2-1 with Lazar Samardzic and Florian Thauvin, but Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor flipped it on its head once again in stoppages.
It allowed Milan to consolidate third place, so are they looking ahead towards Juventus and Inter or behind them to those in fifth place?
“At this moment, I am not looking at the table. We have to take it one game at a time, we must always win and give our best. We cannot look forward or backwards in the table, because that risks using up valuable energy.”
#Maignan: 'Mi hanno chiamato scimmia, stiano a casa! La Procura prenda decisioni forti' #UdineseMilan #Milan https://t.co/fQFzHmu4F9
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) January 20, 2024