An alleged racist incident continues to affect Italian football. At first, the matter between Francesco Acerbi from Inter Milan and Juan Jesus from champions SSC Napoli seemed to have been settled. Jesus complained to referee Federico La Penna in the 59th minute of the Serie A game on Sunday because Acerbi had just before called him with the words “Vai via, nero, sei solo un negro” (“Get off, black man, you are “just a Negro”) was racially insulted.
Matthias Rüb
Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.
After the game, the 32-year-old Napoli defender, who comes from Belo Horizonte and has four international matches for Brazil, said that Acerbi had apologized to him on the pitch after the final whistle. “We hugged each other, on the field it can happen that insults are said. I hope something like this doesn’t happen again,” said Jesus, who equalized for Napoli to make it 1-1 in the 81st minute of the game at Milan’s San Siro Stadium.
After the incident, Acerbi was removed from the squad for the Squadra Azzurra’s friendly games in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) and Harrison (New Jersey) against Venezuela on Thursday and against Ecuador on Sunday by national coach Luciano Spaletti and replaced by Gianluca Mancini from AS Roma. However, Acerbi categorically rejects the allegations made against it. “I never made any racist comments. That’s the only thing I can say,” Acerbi assured on Monday, adding that Juan Jesus must have “misunderstood” him.
Thuram as a witness?
Jesus, who has been playing in Naples since 2021, then spoke up again. “For me, with Acerbi’s apology on the pitch, the matter was over and I would have preferred not to talk again about a thing as ugly as the one I had to suffer,” Jesus shared. What Acerbi said “is completely contrary to the truth and what he actually said on the pitch and what can be proven through film footage and lip reading,” Jesus said on social media. “We fight racism here and now,” he demanded. On Monday, the SSC Naples published the call on the X platform (formerly Twitter): “From Naples to the world it is shouting loudly: No to racism!”
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On Tuesday, the Italian football association FIGC announced that an investigation had been opened against Acerbi. In addition to the two affected parties, other players and the referee should be heard in the matter – possibly in joint consultation. Acerbi asked his club mate Marcus Thuram to testify on his behalf in the matter. “He knows that I’m not a racist!” said Acerbi about the former Gladbach professional and French international. Acerbi has played 34 games for the Italian national team. Racist insults against dark-skinned players by spectators are a sad everyday occurrence in Italian football. Until now, it was considered almost impossible that racist incidents would occur between professionals on the pitch.