Inter Milan striker, Romelu Lukaku has called on Italy’s football authorities to clamp down hard on those Juventus fans who racially abused him with vile monkey chants.
On Tuesday night, April 4, Lukaku was subjected to monkey chants from a section of Juventus supporters behind the goal where he converted a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time to earn Inter a 1-1 draw in the Coppa Italia semi-final, first leg.
Viral video showed the fans chanting ‘f***ing monkey’ and ‘f*** off’ at Lukaku, who was shown a second yellow card and then sent off for shushing them during his celebrations.
The Inter Milan striker asked whether anything had changed from the time he was racially abused by Cagliari fans in 2019, with various incidents in between.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Lukaku wrote: ‘History repeats. Been through it in 2019… and 2023 again
‘I hope the league really take actions for real this time because this beautiful game should be enjoyed by everyone.
‘Thank you for the supportive messages. F**k racism.’
Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Reece James, and Thibaut Courtois were among the footballers who posted supportive comments on the post.
Inter condemned the abuse in a statement on their website on Wednesday, while Juventus have promised to ban those found guilty.
Lukaku, who is on loan at Inter from Chelsea, suffered racist abuse during his first spell with the Italian club between 2019 and 2021.
In September 2019, he said the game was ‘going backwards’ when Cagliari fans abused him with monkey chants when he scored Inter’s winning goal.
Back then, Lukaku called on the football authorities and social media companies to take a stronger stand against racial discrimination.
In September 2021, Lukaku said racism in football was at an ‘all-time high’ and again called on the authorities to take a stand.