Romelu Lukaku: Demba Ba urges black players to leave Italy’s Serie A after Inter Milan striker suffers racist abuse
The Belgian striker suffered abuse after scoring a penalty for his new club in their 2-1 win over Cagliari
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Demba Ba has urged black players to leave Italy's Serie A after Romelu Lukaku suffered racist abuse while playing for Inter Milan against Cagliari.
The Belgian striker took and scored a penalty at the Sardegna Arena, his second goal since a £59 million move from Manchester United.
But during and after the goal in the 2-1 win for Inter, a section of Cagliari fans aimed monkey chants at Lukaku, having also done in previous years, notably last season at Juventus striker Moise Kean.
Lukaku has since posted a message calling on the authorities, players and social media companies to take action to stamp out racism in the game.
But Ba was particularly incensed after one of Inter's ultras group wrote to Lukaku to reveal their regret that he interpreted his experience in Cagliari as "racist".
“We understand that it could have seemed racist to you but it is not like that," the statement read. "In Italy we use some ‘ways’ only to ‘help our teams’ and to try to make our opponents nervous, not for racism but to mess them up."
And Ba has now urged black players to stop playing in Italy after the latest episode of racist abuse in the country.
He wrote: "And here's the reason why I decided not to play there when I could... And at that point I wish all the black players would get out of this league!
"Surely it won't stop their stupidity and hate but at least they won't affect other races."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments