The football world has firmly supported AC Milan’s French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, the victim of racist shouts and gestures that forced his league match against Udinese to be briefly interrupted on Saturday. A duel that the Milanese team managed to overcome (2-3) in the last minutes.
Maignan temporarily left the field of play, followed by his AC Milan teammates, in their away match against Udinese, after warning the referee that he was receiving racist insults and simian screams from some local fans.
“In the first half they made racist noises at me, it’s not the first time it’s happened to me or my teammates, we have to do something,” he told DAZN Italia after the game.
“At Milan we have a family. We are here to play, to give everything to the fans, to give a show. That’s why, although I was upset to have left, I have had everyone’s support and we have made the decision to return to the field “I couldn’t leave my teammates like this,” he added.
Milan and Serie A condemned the racist insults this Saturday: “In our football there is absolutely no place for racism: we are dismayed. We are with you, Mike,” Milan expressed. The Lega Serie A joined the condemnation: “THE LEAGUE SERIE CONDEMNS ALL FORM OF RACISM,” he expressed on his ‘X’ account.
“You have our full support,” stated the French Football Federation in the X account of the French team, in which it condemned “with the greatest firmness any act of racism.” “You are far from being alone, Mike Maignan. We are all with you,” said the French soccer superstar, Kylian Mbappé, in the same medium. “Always the same problems and always NO solution. It’s too much! NO TO RACISM,” stressed Mbappé.
Another French star, Antoine Griezmann, spoke along the same lines. “We are together, Mike! NO TO RACISM!!!”, wrote the Atlético de Madrid player. Another French international, Marcus Thuram, who plays for Inter, Milan’s local rival, posted a clenched fist of protest and a heart on Instagram over a photograph of his insulted teammate.
Maignan warned the referee several times during the first half hour that he was receiving racist insults until he got fed up with the situation and went to the locker room, followed by the rest of his teammates.
Four minutes later, in the 38th minute of the first half, Maignan and the rest of the Milan players returned to the field and the referee resumed the match with the warning that, in the event of new racist insults, the match would be permanently suspended.
Maignan, 28, joined Milan in 2021 after six seasons at Lille. He has been an absolute international on 13 occasions with France and has taken over as a starter for the national team after the historic Hugo Lloris announced his retirement from the national team after the World Cup in Qatar.
