Unfortunately, the scene looks like deja vu. Two black footballers, including French defender Samuel Umtiti, were targeted by racist cries from Lazio Rome supporters during the match against Lecce on Wednesday January 4 in Puglia (southeast Italy).
The referee was forced to interrupt the meeting – won by the host club 2-1 – for a few minutes in the second half due to the invectives directed at the 2018 world champion, who has been on loan since the summer of 2021 to Lecce by FC Barcelona. Already during the first part of the match, other cries, this time targeting his Zambian teammate Lameck Banda, had been heard, reports the Italian agency ANSA.
“When the referee interrupted the match, waiting for the announcer to call for an end to the racist cries, Umtiti asked that the match be resumed, because he wanted to respond on the field to the insults received. He reacted like a true champion”commented the president of Lecce, Saverio Sticchi Damiani, quoted on the website of Gazzetta dello Sport.
According to Italian media, Samuel Umtiti left the pitch in tears at the end of the match, to a standing ovation from the Lecce crowd. “The racist cries were overwhelmed by those of encouragement. All the giallorosso people [jaune et rouge, les couleurs du club] started shouting only one name, Samuel Umtiti”wrote on Twitter the formation of Puglia, concluding his message from the hashtag in English “leave racism aside” with photos of the French defender.
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A recurring phenomenon
Racist and xenophobic cries are a recurring phenomenon in Italian stadiums, in particular from certain Lazio supporters, reputed, for a fringe of them, to maintain links with the fascist history of the country.
After a season and a half behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these incidents returned in 2022: the Franco-Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly, the Nigerian Victor Osimhen, but also the Frenchman Mike Maignan or the Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic were particularly victims.
On Wednesday evening, the president of the International Football Federation, Gianni Infantino, expressed his “solidarity with Samuel Umtiti and Lameck Banda”. “Let’s shout loud and clear: NO TO RACISM! May the vast majority of supporters, who are good people, rise up to silence all racists once and for all! »he wrote on Instagram.