The Serie A referee designator Gianluca Rocchi has explained why recent racist incidents during matches involving Inter’s Romelu Lukaku and Juventus’ Dusan Vlahovic were ‘different’ according to the league’s guidelines.
Lukaku had been shown a second yellow card and was sent off in the final moments of the Coppa Italia semi-final between Inter and Juve at the beginning of April, after converting an injury time penalty and celebrating by lifting his finger to his lips in a gesture that the referee deemed to be provocative of the Bianconeri supporters.
Lukaku had, however, celebrated in the same way on a number of previous occasions and after being subject to racist abuse from the stands, the yellow card was overturned thanks to a personal exemption made by FIGC President Gabriele Gravina.
Comparisons were made to an incident during Juve’s recent 2-0 win over Atalanta in Serie A, when Vlahovic was the target of racist abuse from supporters at the Gewiss Stadium.
The Serbian international netted in the eight minute of injury time to double his side’s advantage and his slight reaction to the Atalanta fans in the stands earned him a booking, however, that yellow card has not been overturned by the FIGC.
Rocchi explained during the Milan Football Week, organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport that the incidents were “different” in his eyes.
He said: “We had a meeting and the instructions given to the boys were clear. If Lukaku is the subject of racism, he shouldn’t be booked but Massa didn’t know that at the time. According to the referee, he was provoking fans, he didn’t know about the past.
“Formally, the decision to revoke his yellow card was correct. The Vlahovic case is different, the referee did everything to try to give the player the benefit of the doubt.”
He continued: “(Daniele) Doveri (the referee for Juventus-Atalanta) chased him to prevent him from approaching the curva.
“We will do everything, but the players have to give us a hand, because if you become a provocateur it becomes a problem, not only in Serie A but also in the lower divisions.”
Rocchi also asked that players “give referees a hand” in difficult circumstances, requesting that everybody keeps their cool on the pitch in hostile moments.
“We ask the players that if they see the referee doing everything to give them support, that they give us a hand in return,” he requested. “At the moment, the rules do not cover responses to insults, we have understood the problem and we will intervene in that regard.”