The reasoning behind the appeal that Juventus won against a partial stadium ban for racist chanting at Inter striker Romelu Lukaku shows the FIGC prosecutor was at fault.
The Bianconeri had been fined and ordered to close a section of the Allianz Juventus Stadium for their next Serie A match against Napoli, as a result of racist abuse aimed at Lukaku from that area of the crowd during the Coppa Italia semi-final.
Juve won their appeal to have the decision reversed and were instead fined and given a warning, prompting much debate over how badly Italian football authorities continue to deal with the issue of racism.
However, La Gazzetta dello Sport has analysed the reasoning given by the FIGC Court of Appeal and found it had very little to do with the racism debate and was entirely down to some late paperwork.
It found that the prosecutor handed in the documentation for the closure of the Tribuna Sud section 12 minutes after the deadline.
The reasons given for the tardiness were not considered acceptable.
In the same court, Inter’s appeal against the second yellow card for his goal celebration ‘silencing’ the racist fans was rejected.
Realising that having the only person in the entire situation punished for being on the receiving end of racist abuse was a terrible look, the FIGC intervened and ‘pardoned’ Lukaku of his ban.