Front page of Corriere dello Sport provokes outrage as Italian daily accused of fuelling racism with 'Black Friday' Serie A preview

Corriere dello Sport, the Italian newspaper, has been condemned by leading anti-discrimination campaigners after prompting another race storm in the country with an offensive front-page headline.

"Black Friday" was emblazoned across the page with photos of Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku and Roma defender Chris Smalling ahead of Friday night's match between the two sides at the San Siro.  

The newspaper had been depicting the two former Manchester United teammates as figureheads for the match, but campaigners reacted with horror at the "ignorant" headline.

"What a season for Italian football," said Troy Townsend, of Kick It Out. Fare, the anti-discrimination charity that works with Uefa, said the splash was an example of how the "media fuels racism every day".

Smalling’s club, Roma, also showed their disgust at the front page, tweeting: “No one. Absolutely no one. Not a single soul”, before the words “Corriere dello Sport headline writer” and a picture of the front page. Italian football has been battling against a number of racist incidents aimed at players this season with Lukaku met with monkey noises as he went to take a penalty in a win away at Cagliari earlier this season.

Mario Balotelli has also been targeted and he reacted furiously away at Hellas Verona when he heard abuse aimed at him, almost threatening to walk off the pitch.

The Italian television media has also been drawn into the spotlight, with elderly television commentator Luciano Passirani saying on-air that defenders should feed Lukaku bananas. Passirani, appearing on channel TopCalcio24, said of the Inter Milan frontman: "The only way to come up against him is maybe give him 10 bananas to eat." The 80-year-old was immediately forced to apologise and the station's director, Fabio Ravezzani, has since insisted he will never appear on the network again.

Lukaku, who moved from Manchester United to Inter in the summer, has supported calls for players to walk off the pitch on hearing racist abuse. After he was abused by Cagliari fans, he released a statement the following day in which he claimed “we are going backwards” on dealing with the problem.

Last week all 20 clubs in Italy's top tier signed an open letter which called on "all those who love Italian football" to unite to try to eradicate its "serious problem with racism". Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham have suffered abuse on social media this season in the Premier League.

Of Thursday's Corriere dello Sport front page, Italian journalist Matteo Bonetti described the article as "tone deaf, ignorant and with the usual racial undertones".

"Saying 'I’m shocked' would be a lie at this point," he added.

Inter did not reference the newspaper article, but tweeted: "Football is passion, culture and brotherhood. We are and will always be against all forms of discrimination."

City rivals AC said on Twitter it was "totally unacceptable to see such casual ignorance on racism" and they would "not stay silent on this issue".

Lukaku's Italian agent Federico Pastorello said he was "really ashamed to read" such a headline.

He said on Sky Sports News: "Being an agent we are trying to protect our clients from this huge problem (racism) because it's not only a newspaper but it's a problem you can breathe in the stadium, in social media, on the street."

Asked about the striker's reaction to the headline, Pastorello said: "For sure he is not happy about that but he's strong enough to face it."

Corriere editor Ivan Zazzaroni subsequently posted a statement on his paper's website, claiming the writer's intention was to celebrate the "magnificent wealth of diversity" in football.

Zazzaroni wrote: "'Black Friday', for those who want to understand it and can understand it, was only praising diversity, taking pride in diversity, the magnificent wealth of diversity. If you don't understand it, it's because you can't do that.

"It's an innocent article, perfectly argued by (journalist) Roberto Perrone, that has been made poisonous by those who have poison inside them."

Lukaku and Smalling have both impressed for their respective clubs since swapping Old Trafford for Italy this summer. Smalling is at AS Roma on a season-long loan - with the Italian club keen to extend - and Lukaku is at Inter on a permanent at the San Siro, where he has already netted 10 league goals.