Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini had tried to play down the racism incident involving Dusan Vlahovic and La Dea fans yesterday and Luca Marchetti has criticized his response.
Atalanta fans became the latest group to target Vlahovic and the striker was frustrated with the chants during the game.
When he scored, he responded to them and was given a yellow card. The incident has caused a new debate in Italian football as clubs try their best to curb the menace.
Gasperini’s response appeared to be sympathetic towards the fans over Vlahovic which annoyed pundit Marchetti and he said via Tuttomercatoweb:
“It would be nice if, in that case, we could simply talk about rudeness, but yesterday the offence transcended into racism and one thing is to offend, one thing is to be racist and when you use certain terms, you talk about racism and that’s it”
Juve FC Says
Racism has no place in our game and, sadly, someone in a position to condemn the issue like Gasperini refused to do so.
Atalanta has several black players in their squad who will be abused at other grounds when they visit. It would be interesting to see how Gasperini responds.
