Udinese director Federico Balzaretti condemned the racist abuse that was aimed at Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, promising to help identify those responsible and ban them.
The France international had already alerted the fourth official and referee to the racist insults when the game was goalless, and as per protocol a statement was read out.
When it continued and Maignan again told the officials, referee Fabio Maresca suspended play for five minutes while another statement warned the game would be called off completely if there were any more incidents.
It resumed and Milan snatched a 3-2 victory in stoppages, but the match was inevitably overshadowed by that shameful situation at the Bluenergy Stadium.
“This is a club that has worked for over 30 years to be the most ethnically diverse possible, the city is an example of integration, so clearly if we find the person responsible, we will take action,” director of sport Balzaretti told Sky Sport Italia.
“We do not tolerate any form of racism, even if it was a single person. The FIGC prosecutor will investigate and that is still being studied, but I wish to underline that the club has never seen these problems before.”
Udinese are one of the few clubs in Italy who not only have their own stadium rather than rent from the local council, but also have a state of the art arena that therefore has video surveillance technology.
This means that the club should be able to identify those who are responsible for the racist abuse and are also in a position to do something about it by banning them from the stadium.
“The prosecutor will evaluate all of the evidence, we have the instruments to help that investigation.”
Most stadiums in Italy are owned and run by the council, only rented for match day by the clubs, so they are not in control of security and do not have the same ability to simply ban an individual.
There was one concerning reaction from Udinese, as when the game was suspended for racist abuse, the official club social media accounts did not refer to why the referee had halted play.
#UdineseMilan 0-1
38 – The match was halted for a few minutes but we're back under way now
⚪️⚫️ #ForzaUdinese #AlèUdin #WePlayForU
— Udinese Calcio (@Udinese_1896) January 20, 2024