Though three announcements were made over the San Siro loudspeaker, Wednesday’s match was not brought to a halt
UEFA say they are “very concerned” by Inter’s apparent failure to follow the European governing body’s protocol on racist chants.
Fans at the San Siro hurled monkey chants at Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly during Wednesday’s match, according to Carlo Ancelotti.
Three announcements were made over the loudspeaker imploring fans to stop the chants, but they continued unabated.
According to UEFA’s protocol, the match should have been suspended at that point but instead the game was allowed to continue.
The Napoli bossAncelotti pointed to that policy in an angry press conference following the match.
“There was a strange atmosphere, as we asked three times for play to be suspended, they had announcements with the speaker three times,” Ancelotti said.
“We asked three times for some action to be taken, but the match continued. We keep being told play can be halted, but when? After four or five announcements?
“Maybe we have to take matters into our own hands next time and stop play ourselves. They’ll probably make us lose the game if we walk off, but we are prepared to do it.”
In a statement released on Friday, UEFA along with world players’ union FIFPro, pointed out that the match should have been halted.
“FIFPro and UEFA are very concerned by this unacceptable racist incident and by what appears on the surface to be a failure to respect the widely-recognised three-step anti-racism protocol,” the statement partially read.
“Koulibaly, a French-Senegalese defender, was subject to racist chanting and, despite announcements made by the stadium speaker, the chants did not stop.
“Moreover, it seems that Napoli’s coaching staff had already informed the referee several times of racist chants.
“Both organisations are of the opinion that the racist chants towards Koulibaly, who had to leave the pitch after receiving a second yellow card, are unacceptable and have no place in football.”
Inter will be forced to play two games behind closed doors as a result of the chants, a punishment that UEFA and FIFPro welcomed.
“Both organisations applaud the prompt actions taken by Italy’s football authorities, who sanctioned FC Internazionale with the next two matches to be played behind closed doors and, additionally, with a partial closure for FC Internazionale’s third home match,” the statement said.
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