Napoli’s Carlo Ancelotti says he and his side wanted their contest with Inter halted after Kalidou Koulibaly was subjected to abuse which he feels had a huge part in the defender’s dismissal.
Gab Marcotti reacts to Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti’s post-match comments about the racist abuse aimed at Kalidou Koulibaly against Inter.
Inter Milan coach Luciano Spalletti has condemned the racial abuse aimed at Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly during his side’s 1-0 win on Boxing Day, but said suspending games may not be the answer to bring an end to discrimination in Italian football.
Koulibaly was subjected to monkey chants from Inter fans inside the San Siro, which led to the punishment of a two-match stadium closure for the Nerazzurri, and Spalletti said such behaviour must end.
“I think it’s only right to start by saying that my position is one of condemnation: no ifs, no buts,” the Inter coach said at a news conference on Friday. “The time has come to say enough is enough.
“Enough of these chants of racism, discrimination, ridiculing the Heysel or Superga disasters. Enough of hatred in football in general, and this is the fundamental thing. Coming to the stadium is such a beautiful, attractive thing, a social occasion of people coming together, and at times it gets abused by people.”
Spalletti said things will only change if people make a concerted effort in their daily life and that stopping or suspending one game would not make a difference.
“Things don’t change with just one gesture, but with the constant, daily effort to change things,” he said. “Then, from this repeated, daily, continued gesture, it becomes normality, because these things have happened before.
“Of course a momentary solution could be to stop a game, but now we need to do something different. There are lots of incidents that have happened, even recently. We are sorry about Koulibaly and we’ve told him — we’re sorry, and we’re with him; by his side, like we are by the side of anybody who is targeted during a game.
“It is written in our constitution: Internazionale, we are brothers of the world, without any distinction of shirt or skin colour.”
Koulibaly was shown the red card in the 81st minute of the game after sarcastically applauding the referee after showing him a yellow card, as the monkey chants were clearly audible.
Inter scored 10 minutes later to win the game 1-0, but Spalletti is concerned that fans could feel they played a part in the victory with their abuse, which may have fuelled Koulibaly’s frustration and influenced his reaction.
“We need to be careful not to make people think that if they behave that way, they can have an influence on a result,” he said. “We need to be careful they don’t think they can have a hand in a result.
“We want to do things in a different way, like in other countries where you can’t get a place in the stadium for all the people who want to go there, have fun and celebrate, including away fans. It’s time to say enough is enough.”
Several players, including Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, have come out in support of Koulibaly.
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