There is absolutely no room for this sort of thing in football.
Napoli played Inter Milan in a Serie A match on Wednesday night, in a game that saw Inter defeat Napoli 1-0 following a late goal.
But the drama surrounding the match had little to do with football.
Napoli’s defender, and one of the highest rated centre backs in the world Kalidou Koulibaly was the victim of a number of racist chants from certain fans who were in attendance at the game.
Koulibaly was sent off during the game, and was visibly shaken by the racial abuse he suffered.
He has since taken to Twitter to post a powerful message, assuring he is proud of who he is, saying: “I regret the defeat and especially to have left my brothers! But I’m proud of the colour of my skin. To be French, Senegalese, Neapolitan: Man.”
Mi dispiace la sconfitta e sopratutto avere lasciato i miei fratelli!
Però sono orgoglioso del colore della mia pelle. Di essere francese, senegalese, napoletano: uomo.⚽ #InterNapoli 1-0
🇸🇳 #KK26 #famiglia
💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre
💪🏿 #DifendoLaCittà pic.twitter.com/f9q0KYggcw— Koulibaly Kalidou (@kkoulibaly26) December 26, 2018
Napoli manager, Carlo Ancelotti spoke after the game, saying that they had asked three times for the game to be halted following the chants, but his request was denied.
He went on to say that because of this, he will take matters into his own hands next time, and his team will walk off the pitch.
You can watch Ancelotti’s speech below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G6IsyM1xB8
Clip via ESPN UK
This comes less than a month after a similar incident took place with Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling.
