Thierry Henry offered some strong words after Inter striker Romelu Lukaku saw his Serie A ban upheld despite being racially abused by Juventus fans.
- Lukaku racially abused by Juve supporters
- Suspension upheld after sending off for celebration
- Henry left furious by Serie A’s decision
WHAT HAPPENED? The Belgian forward equalised from the spot in the first leg of Inter’s Coppa Italia semi-final tie, but was subject to vile racist abuse throughout and was later shown a second yellow for his “shh” gesture towards the Juve supporters. After the Italian top flight inexplicably upheld the one-match ban for Lukaku’s alleged “provocative behaviour”, Arsenal and France legend Henry, who coached the striker in his role as an assistant with the Belgian national team, was left incredulous.
WHAT THEY SAID: On Tuesday, Henry told CBS Sports that “racist abuse is everywhere, has always been everywhere, and it looks like it always will be.” “You can’t say the entire stadium was involved because it wasn’t, but it still happened. Because [Lukaku getting racial abuse and being booked for ‘provoking’ supporters] is not common sense, I return to common sense once more. You can call that common sense when the man quiets the crowd after hearing that [racist abuse] and gets a yellow for it, right? I return to common reason, and the Italian Football Federation continues to use the colour yellow. Wow.
“I don’t know why they kept the yellow. I suffered in Italy [with racial abuse], I suffered with it everywhere. Every time it was your reaction getting punished. This time, a section of the stadium will be sanctioned, but I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough of seeing the ‘No To Racism’ on the shirt. I’ve had enough of seeing that lousy picture at the start of the game when we all come together and we focus on what is on the field. Can we focus on some other places and see what we can do properly about this? The guy, I go back to, got a yellow card for this. Please, let’s stop.”
