Udinese take a big step because of the ‘Maignan case’

The general director of Udinesethe Italian Franco Collavino, assured that the club will expel for life the fans who shouted and chanted racists against the Frenchman. Mike Maignangoalkeeper of Milanwhich forced the suspension of this Saturday’s match for several minutes.

Udinese will not tolerate racists in their stadium and, once identified by the police authorities, they will be banned for life after the unfortunate events they caused at the Blueenergy Stadium on Saturday.

The punishment of the police, known in Italy as a Daspo (banning access to sporting events), can be temporary, so Udinese decided that the actions have no specific consequences regardless of the punishment from the authorities.

“A Daspo has a limited duration, but the club can decide to exclude a fan from a stadium for a longer period. We will try to exclude them from the stadium for life,” Collavino declared on the television program which is ‘Rai Minutes 90’.

The president assured that this was an isolated incident in which only three individuals participated. The Police have been working since Saturday with the help of the club to find the culprits. “Udinese is determined to go and identify those responsible for these acts and they did it immediately because at the end of the first half we activated all the authorities, including the police, to activate those responsible. What is certain is that they are one, two, no more than three people. In any case, there are no songs,” he explained.

Maignan published a strong statement this Sunday and called all the authorities who did nothing about it as accomplices. During the match, the goalkeeper warned the referee several times in the first hour that he was receiving racist insults until he got fed up with the situation.

Return to the field after going to the locker room

The goalkeeper went to the locker room and the rest of his teammates followed him inside. The stadium’s public address system asked the choirs to stop. Four minutes later, in the 38th minute of the first half, with the score 0-1 in favor of the ‘Rossoneri’ and some of the Udinese players demanding an explanation from their own fans, Maignan and the other Milan players returned to the field and the referee resumed the match. The referee warned that, in the event of new racist insults, the match would be permanently suspended.

Since the events, Italy has poured in messages of support for the cause and condemnation of what happened. Following the events, the goalkeeper received public support from the Italian Football Federation, Serie A, the Italian Government, some players and Udinese, who also condemned the events in a statement. In addition, the mayor of Udine (north) offered the goalkeeper honorary citizenship of the city.