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Leonardo Bonucci, Massimiliano Allegri slammed as Moise Kean is racially abused

Tom McGowan
·Deputy Head of Sport
Moise Kean celebrates after scoring against Cagliari on Tuesday. (Credit: Getty Images)
Moise Kean celebrates after scoring against Cagliari on Tuesday. (Credit: Getty Images)

Juventus’ Moise Kean became the latest player to be subjected to racist abuse by fans on Tuesday, although both his manager and team-mate appeared to suggest he had brought it upon himself.

The 19-year-old striker posed in front of Calgiari fans after scoring the second goal in Tuesday’s 2-0 win for Juve, seemingly in response to derogatory chants aimed at him throughout the match.

Kean later posted an image of the celebration on Instagram with the caption “the best way to respond to racism,” although his team-mate Leonardo Bonucci claimed the young Italian international was partially to blame for the reaction of the crowd.

“You celebrate goals with your team-mates,” Bonucci told Sky Italia. “He could have done it differently.

“I think the blame is 50-50. Moise should not have done that and the Curva [fans] should not have reacted in that way.”

View this post on Instagram

The best way to respond to racism 🦍 #notoracism 🚫

A post shared by K M B 9 🦍 (@moise_kean) on Apr 2, 2019 at 3:19pm PDT

England and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling expressed his dismay at Bonucci’s comments, just one week after he was on the receiving end of similar abuse during England’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro.

Raheem Sterling posted about the incident on his Instagram story. (Credit: Instagram @sterling7)
Raheem Sterling posted about the incident on his Instagram story. (Credit: Instagram @sterling7)

Juve head coach Massimiliano Allegri seemed to agree with Bonucci while also criticising the crowd’s taunts.

“He shouldn’t have celebrated in that manner,” Allegri told Juve’s official website, “he is a young man and he has to learn, but certain things from the crowd also shouldn’t be heard.”

In another post-match interview, Allegri was more forceful in his condemnation of the Cagliari fans, branding those who abused Kean “idiots who do stupid things and ruin it for everyone else” while also claiming football authorities “don’t really want to” tackle the issue.

Bonucci has since posted on Instagram
Bonucci has since posted on Instagram

“You need great intelligence to deal with these situations and should not go to provoke people,” he added. “That, of course, does not mean the idiots in the crowd and the way they reacted should be justified.

“I don’t think talking about it all the time helps. I don’t think halting play helps, because not everyone in the stadium did that.

“We need to use the cameras, find those who are doing it and punish them. It’s very simple, identify them and not one-year ban or two, just give them a lifetime ban.

“We’ve got the technology, it can be done if the authorities want to. The problem is, they don’t really want to.”

Another of Kean’s team-mates Blaise Matuidi, who last year claimed to have been racially abused at the same stadium, posted a message of support on Twitter with the words “BIANCO + NERI (white and black) #NoToRacism.”

Juventus are yet to respond to Yahoo Sport UK’s request for comment.

Cagliari president Tommaso Giulini was another who placed the blame with Kean while suggesting he heard only boos rather than anything more offensive.

“I heard mostly boos, if they started making animal noises then we were in the wrong,” he said. “What happened at the end was because of a celebration which was wrong and it would have happened with any other player.”