Samuel Umtiti. (Photo by Giuseppe Maffia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
French international Samuel Umtiti has reportedly left the pitch in tears after he and Lecce teammate Lameck Banda were subjected to racist abuse by Lazio fans visiting Serie A from Italy.
The referee stopped play in the second half on Wednesday due to racist taunts “coming from the visiting sector occupied by Lazio supporters,” Italian news agency Ansa said.
Cameroonian defender Umtiti, who won the 2018 World Cup with France and is on loan to Lecce from Barcelona, was the main target of the abuse.
Lazio fans also hurled racist abuse at Zambian international Banda during the first half, Ansa reported.
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“Lazio condemns the perpetrators of this despicable, shameful and anachronistic gesture and, as always, will offer its maximum collaboration to the authorities to identify those responsible,” Lazio said in a statement.
Lazio fans are not racist and cannot be associated with a few individuals who seriously damage the club’s image.
Lecce president Saverio Sticchi Damiani said the referee stopped the game and that after the stadium announcers called for the abuse to stop, “Umtiti asked for the game to be resumed.”
Umtiti, 29, left the field in tears at the end of the match, but also received a standing ovation from the Lecce crowd, according to Italian media.
“He wanted to respond to the insults on the pitch. He reacted like a true champion,” Damiani told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.
Lecce, who won 2-1, later praised his fans for responding to the abuse by chanting Umtiti’s name.
“Racist slurs were drowned out by cheers of encouragement for our champion!” the club said on Twitter, along with the English hashtag #KeepRacismOut.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino also supported Umtiti and Banda.
“Let’s shout loud and clear: NO TO RACISM! May the vast majority of the fans, who are good people, stand up to silence all racists once and for all! he wrote in an Instagram post.
This is by no means the first case of racist abuse in Italian football, particularly between clubs that have connections to the country’s far-right.
Fascist fanatic groups are common throughout Italy. Lazio’s ultra group, the “Irriducibili”, has a stalwart following with ties to the far-right dating back at least to the 1970s.
