Mike Maignan on Saturday fired back at “ignorant” fans who aimed monkey chants at the France goalkeeper during AC Milan’s dramatic 3-2 win at Udinese Calcio, which was temporarily halted due to the abuse, while FIFA president Gianni Infantino called for worldwide stadium bans for fans and “automatic forfeits” for teams whose supporters hurl “abhorrent” abuse.
Milan are six points behind league leaders Inter, who are in Saudi Arabia contesting the Italian Super Cup, in third place after Noah Okafor poked home the winner in the third minute of stoppage time.
However, the match was marred by a group of Udinese supporters racially abusing Maignan during the first half, leading to referee Fabio Maresca stopping play and a livid Maignan storming down the tunnel with his teammates.
Photo: Reuters
Talking to Sky Sport, Maignan said that he first heard monkey chants when he collected the ball for his first goal-kick, after which he “said nothing.”
“Then for the second goal-kick they did it again. I called to the dugout and the fourth official and I told them what had happened. I said that we can’t play in these conditions because it’s not the first time that it’s happened with me or other players,” he said. “They’re ignorant people... You can be booed or whistled when you’re away from home, that’s normal, but what happened today has no place in football.”
Play resumed after about five minutes.
Saturday was not the first time that Maignan has been racially abused by supporters in Italy. He was targeted by a Juventus fan in September 2021.
Maignan described himself as “black and proud” after that incident, asking whether Italy’s soccer authorities knew what it was like “to hear insults and chants reducing us to animals.”
Infantino said there was no place for discrimination of any kind in soccer or broader society.
“The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield [Wednesday] on Saturday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable,” he said in a statement.
Coventry midfielder Kasey Palmer accused Sheffield Wednesday fans of doing the same toward him during their English Championship clash, which his team won 2-1.
“We need all the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools so that future generations understand that this is not part of football or society,” Infantino said. “As well as the three-step process [match stopped, match re-stopped, match abandoned], we have to implement an automatic forfeit for the team whose fans have committed racism and caused the match to be abandoned as well as worldwide stadium bans and criminal charges for racists.”
Last week, SS Lazio were hit with a one-match stand closure after supporters directed monkey chants at Romelu Lukaku during their Italian Cup win over local rivals AS Roma.
In Sheffield, Palmer labeled the abuse “abhorrent and wholly unacceptable,” with the match paused as the referee spoke to both managers on the touchline.
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