Lazio has called some of its “supporters” to order. Samuel Umtiti, defender of Lecce, was the target of racist abuse on Wednesday during the match against the Roma team. The latter on Thursday condemned the racist cries that touched the French defender, in tears after these insults.
“Lazio condemns the perpetrators of this despicable, shameful and anachronistic gesture and will, as always, offer its maximum collaboration to the authorities in identifying those responsible,” the Roman club said in a statement. Lazio fans are not racist and cannot be associated with a few individuals who seriously damage the image of the club. »
The referee of the match, won Wednesday at home by Lecce (2-1), was forced to stop the match a few moments in the second half because of the cries “Coming from the visitor sector occupied by Lazio supporters”, according to the Italian agency Ansa. They were targeting Samuel Umtiti, loaned since last summer to Lecce by FC Barcelona, but others had been heard in the first period targeting his Zambian teammate Lameck Banda, according to the same source.
“Lazio has always opposed all forms of racism and discrimination by all available means, implementing initiatives aimed at repressing these phenomena, raising awareness of this problem among its supporters”, affirms Lazio in its communicated. Racist cries are recurrent in Italian stadiums, in particular from certain pseudo-supporters of Lazio sadly reputed, for a fringe of them, to maintain links with fascism.
On Wednesday evening, Gianni Infantino expressed his “solidarity with Samuel Umtiti and Lameck Banda”. “Let’s shout loud and clear: no to racism! May the overwhelming majority of supporters, who are good people, rise up to silence all racists once and for all! “wrote the president of Fifa on Instagram.