Only a week after the English national team was subject to several racial abuse during their international match in Montenegro, another instance of racist abuse rose, this towards the young Italian, Moise Kean, as Juventus beat Cagliari 2-0 on Tuesday.
Kean and Matuidi had to endure a whole night of jeering and monkey chants from the Cagliari Curva, which has the most passionate and vocal of the Cagliari fans in the whole stadium. However, the abuse was intensified even further when Kean scored Juventus' second goal and went on to celebrate in front of the home fans, holding his arms up.
The 19-year-old spoke out on Instagram after the match, posting a picture of his celebration with a caption that read "The best way to respond to racism".
Most of the controversy arose when one of his fellow teammates, Leonardo Bonucci, said that the teenager had to take some of the blame for the racist abuse that he received during the match. The experienced Italian defender said that he had to take "50-50 of the blame", as he felt that "Moise should not have done that and the Curva should not have reacted in that way."
Whilst Max Allegri did defend Kean, calling those who racially abused him "idiots who do stupid things and ruin it for everyone else," he did say that Kean should not have provoked them with his celebration. This may seem reasonable to a certain extent, but the jeering was evident throughout the whole match, not just once he scored the goal.
His fellow team-mate, Blaise Matuidi, has supported Kean all the way, with the Frenchman being subject to racial abuse on plenty of occasions in the past, most notably against Cagliari as well last season, with the club from Sardinia apologising later on. The midfielder posted a picture of Kean celebrating on Twitter, with a caption that read "BIANCO + NERI", playing on Juventus' nickname of 'Bianconeri'.
This case managed to reach other countries, other than Italy, with Manchester City and England international, Raheem Sterling, criticising Bonucci for his words on Kean, posting on Instagram: "All you can do now is laugh". Sterling himself has been subject to racial abuse on numerous times throughout his career, particularly against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this season.
The match at the Sardegna Arena was reportedly delayed by around three minutes, as a warning was issued over the public address system for the home crowd to stop the jeering aimed at Kean and Matuidi.
Italian football has been marred by racist chants over recent years, particularly with a match between Inter Milan and Napoli at the San Siro being completely overshadowed by the racist abuse that Senegalese defender, Kalidou Koulibaly endured from the home crowd during the match.
Another instance was that of Sulley Muntari in 2017, when the Ghanaian walked off the pitch in anger whilst playing for Pescara, who were still in Serie A at the time.
Racism is a recurring problem in football, and there has to be a change in world football to stop this, as race should not come in between the players and football.
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