Juventus’ Dušan Vlahović was racially abused by some Atalanta fans during the Bianconeri’s 2-0 win in Bergamo and La Dea boss Gian Piero Gasperini has made some strange comments about the incident.
Vlahović came on late in the game in Bergamo when Juve were 1-0 up against Atalanta. He was constantly subjected to racist chanting by Atalanta fans and referee Daniele Doveri had stopped the game in stoppage time once to make sure that the chanting stopped. The stadium announcers made no intimation to the fans to stop the chanting and they restarted by the time the game began once again.
After the game, Gasperini was asked about the incident and he told DAZN (via TMW) that the situation can’t be described as ‘racism’ and it was only a case of personal insult from La Dea fans.
“I’ve already said that we have players like Pasalic and Djimsiti on the field. Not everything is racism, sometimes it’s also individual things. It’s like being insulted in a stadium, it’s more rude than racism. If it were racism, Pasalic would also be insulted because it is going to affect the whole ethnic group.
“Often in stadiums we see various insults. I tend to think so because racism is a very serious thing, much worse that involves more people. Unfortunately they are rude chants aimed at a player. I agree that racism must be fought but not confused. If we continue to lump all the grass together then we are all racists. I dissociate myself from any form of rudeness, of insult. In football matches you have to cheer on your team.”
Max Allegri was also asked about the incident involving the Serbian and the Juve boss’ comments were also not too convincing, when it comes to battling the issue of racism in football in Italy.
The Bianconeri boss stated: “We have to pretend nothing happened, whoever is responsible will make the decision. Only by ignoring things can we silence everyone.”
This isn’t the first time that Vlahović has been subjected to racist abuse from fans in Serie A, as he was once previously abused by some Fiorentina fans as well.
Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN
