Roma centre-back Antonio Rudiger warns racist incidents “happen too often in this country”.
Roma centre-back Antonio Rudiger warns racist incidents “happen too often in this country”.
The German international was racially abused by Lazio’s Senad Lulic earlier this season, while Juventus’ Medhi Benatia was insulted for being Moroccan and Sulley Muntari walked off the pitch after monkey chants were aimed at him.
“I take this very seriously because I cannot and must not ignore something like this. I am part of this too. Racism is a serious issue here,” Rudiger told Bild.
“Incidents like the ones with Benatia and me simply happen too often in this country and that is why something must happen now.
“If the Italian federation won’t do anything then FIFA must act. It is easy to come up with the ‘No to racism’ campaign but when you don’t do anything concrete then that doesn’t help.
“With all due respect, it’s easy for people from the outside, who do not have the same skin colour as we do, to say ‘stay calm, don’t listen’. But the thing is, that way things won’t change.”