After two league defeats to Sassuolo and a derby defeat to Lazio, AS Roma under Jose Mourinho’s leadership defeated Sampdoria 3-0 at the weekend.
The Italian capital club’s victory brought them closer to the top four thanks to goals from Stephan El Shaarawy, Paulo Dybala, and Georgino Wijnaldum.
There was an ugly incident during the game. The visiting team went down to 10 men after Colombian midfielder Jeison Murillo was shown a red card, and head coach Dejan Stankovic reacted furiously.
Racist chants from Roma fans met his reaction.
According to Football Italia, Mourinho gestured to the fans to stop the chants and spoke on the incident in defence of his former player after the game.
Roma fined for racist chant
Jose Mourinho’s intervention during the game was well acknowledged by an Italian sporting judge, who decided on the incident and was lenient on the club.
“Roma have been fined €8,000 following insulting chants towards the opposing coach by the entirety of supporters in Curva Sud.
The sanction is mitigated because chants were not repeated after the active intervention of their coach,” the judge said in a statement via Tutto Mercato.
Speaking after the game, the Special One expressed disappointment at the fans. He claimed to have grown a thick skin against such behaviours and urged Stankovic to do the same.
The Serbian thanked his former boss and claimed not to have paid attention, and further expressed pride in his gypsy roots.
Lukaku sent off for celebration
In another development, there was an incident of racism in Italian football last night in the Coppa Italia game between Juventus and Inter Milan.
Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku endured a difficult evening from the Old Lady fans before he scored from the spot in the closing stages to finish the game levels.
Sports Brief reported that Lukaku was sent off for excessive celebration after doing shush to the fans who had abused him throughout the game, much to the disappointment of many football viewers.