Napoli fans showed their support for Kalidou Koulibaly during their side’s 1-0 win over Carpi after the defender was racially abused during Wednesday’s match against Lazio in Rome, which prompted the referee to momentarily stop the game.
Fans throughout Napoli’s San Paolo stadium held up photos of Koulibaly to demonstrate their love for the 24-year-old.
As Chelsea continue to root out the fans who refused to let Souleymane Sylla board a Paris metro train and sang “we’re racist and that’s the way we like it” at him before Tuesday’s Champions League match against PSG, they used Jose Mourinho’s Friday press conference to publicly apologize to Sylla.
It can be far too easy for people who aren’t directly affected by racism to dismiss it as a thing of the past. Over the last few years, both FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho have both denied the existence of racism in various aspects of football. But, in quick succession, a group of Chelsea fans in Paris and former Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi have provided crystal clear reminders of just how incredibly wrong that notion is at every level.
