Romelu Lukaku, the Inter Milan striker who on Tuesday night endured horrifying racial abuse, has gained the support of the entire football community.
When Inter Milan played Juventus in the Coppa Italia semifinal at the San Siro Stadium, Lukaku was exposed to racial taunts.
A succession of nasty situations were caused by the Belgian’s excitement after scoring a last-second penalty.
He was involved in a scuffle with Juan Cuadrado, with the Juve utility player punching Inter captain, Samir Handanovic.
The three – Lukaku, Cuadrado, and Handanovic – were all sent off. Lukaku’s sports agency, Roc Nation issued a stinging response, calling for an end to racism against their client.
“Tonight’s racist remarks made towards Romelu Lukaku by Juventus fans in Turin were beyond despicable and cannot be accepted.”
A couple of leading stars, both former and current, have joined in condemning the incident.
Kylian Mbappe left a love emoji for Lukaku: “2023 and still the same problems, but we are not going to let you do it. All against racism,” he said, as quoted by ESPN.
We're all with you, Rom. 💙 pic.twitter.com/XzxDd5mn1E
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 5, 2023
Chelsea legend, Didier Drogba took to his Twitter and wrote: “When your talent and strength start hurting them and you’re becoming bigger and better, their stupidity arises.”
Lukaku’s parent club, Chelsea also left a message of support alongside a couple of Blues players including Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah.
Kevin De Bruyne also reshared Roc Nation’s message on his Instagram stories.
Sky Sports has reported that Juventus are working with authorities to identify the perpetrators of the racist acts.
Lukaku breaks silence on racism
At the same time, Sports Brief reported the Chelsea striker, on loan at Inter, expressed his outrage on Instagram after the incident.
He used the phrase ‘history repeats itself’, referring to a similar incident in 2019 when Cagliari fans aimed racist slurs at him.