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Infantino calls on fans to "shut up all racists", after Lazio abuse
Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported the match was paused for several minutes while an announcement was made in the stadium calling for the chants to be stopped.
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Barcelona's French defender Samuel Umtiti warms up before the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Elche CF at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on December 18, 2021.
(AFP/Pau Barrena)
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IFA President Gianni Infantino called on fans to "shut up all the racists" after Lecce defender Samuel Umtiti and team mate Lameck Banda were subjected to racial abuse during their home game against Lazio on Wednesday.
Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported the match was paused for several minutes while an announcement was made in the stadium calling for the chants to be stopped.
Home fans chanted Umtiti's name to drown out the abuse and Lecce President Saverio Sticchi Damiani said the French World Cup winner, who is on loan from Barcelona, had asked for the game to resume.
Lecce came from behind to win the Serie A game 2-1, with Frenchman Umtiti leaving the pitch in tears.
"Racist insults were drowned out by choruses of encouragement towards our champion," Lecce said in a statement.
Umtiti posted a message on Instagram saying: "Only football, fun, joy. The rest doesn't count."
Infantino showed his support for Umtiti and Zambian Banda in a social media post.
"Solidarity with Samuel Umtiti and Lameck Banda - let's shout it loud and clear: No to racism," he wrote as a caption to photos of Umtiti and Banda.
"May the huge majority of fans, who are good people, stand up to shut up all the racists once and for all."
Cameroon-born defender Umtiti, who won the 2018 World Cup with France was the primary target of the abuse.
Lazio fans also hurled racist insults at Zambian international Banda during the first half, Ansa reported.
Lecce president Saverio Sticchi Damiani said that the referee halted the game and after stadium announcers called for the abuse to stop, "Umtiti asked that the match resume".
The 29-year-old Umtiti left the pitch in tears at the end of the match and also a standing ovation from the Lecce crowd, according to Italian media.
"He wanted to respond on the pitch to the insults. He reacted like a true champion," newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport quoted Damiani as saying.
This is by no means the first case of racist abuse in Italian football, particularly among clubs that have connections to the country's far right.
Fascist fan groups are common across Italy. Lazio's ultras group the "Irriducibili" have hardcore supporters with ties to the extreme right that stretch back to at least the 1970s.
