Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 10:58• Yanick Vos

AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan was racially treated by supporters from the stands on Sunday prior to the game against Juventus (1-1) in Turin. The French closing post has responded extensively via Instagram to the incident at the Allianz Stadium.

Maignan did not flinch during the warm-up of the duel with Juventus on Sunday evening, when he was confronted with racism. He responded a day later. “What do you want me to say? That racism is wrong and these fans are stupid? That’s not the point. I’m not the first or the last player to have this happen. As long as we treat these events as isolated incidents and do not take comprehensive action, history will continue to repeat itself, over and over again,” the Frenchman opened on Instagram.

The goalkeeper of i Rossoneria says he wonders whether the authorities understand what the racist statements are doing to the victims. “We are portrayed as animals. Do they know what it feels like for our families, for our loved ones who see this and who don’t understand that it can still happen in 2021?” According to Maignan, he is not a ‘victim’ of racism. “I’m Mike, upright, black and proud. As long as we can raise our voices to change things, we will.” Juventus have already launched an investigation and allegedly the supporters who have expressed racial slurs have already been identified.

Italian football has been dealing with a problem of racism in stadiums for years. For example, Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly was confronted with monkey noises and other forms of racism from the stands in an away game against Internazionale at the end of 2018. Moise Kean was then racially treated for 90 minutes during his time at Juventus during a match against Cagliari. The Italian Serie A launched an anti-racism campaign at the end of 2019. However, this came under fierce criticism from the football association, as monkey paintings were used in the campaign.