Mike Maignan victim of racism

“You are very far from being alone Mike Maignan. We are all with you,” wrote the Paris SG superstar on her account X (formerly Twitter). “All the same problems and always NO solution,” Mbappé worried.

“You have all our support Mike Maignan,” added the French Football Federation on account X of the French team, while Marcus Thuram and Antoine Griezmann had given their support to their teammate on Saturday night.

This is not the first time that Maignan has been the target of racist insults from the stands since he joined AC Milan in 2021.

The goalkeeper of Bleus had in the past already denounced the behavior of Juve tifosi in September 2021, then of those of Cagliari in March 2022, but what happened at Bluenergy Stadium “has no place in a stadium,” he hammered after the match won 3 to 2 by Milan.

“They are stupid people… You can be whistled or rebutted by opposing supporters when you play outside, it’s normal, but they imitated monkey cries, “he explained.

Maignan, 28, first warned the referee of the match of what was happening in the stands behind his goal in the 26th minute. Then he decided to leave the field in the 34th minute when new monkey cries sounded, despite the calls as provided for in Article 62 of the championship regulations, to stop the insults broadcast in the stadium otherwise the match would be definitively stopped.

He was imitated by all his teammates, who, when the referee interrupted the game, then returned to their locker rooms.

A strong gesture that, Maignan hopes, will make an impression: “We must make the referee and everyone understand that this is how we must act”.

While he initially thought he would not resume the meeting (“I didn’t want to play anymore (…) I was angry”), Maignan was finally on the field when the referee restarted the game after five minutes of interruption.

He conceded two goals but AC Milan finally won 3 to 2 and celebrated, with Maignan in the lead, this success with his tifosi present in Udine.

“It’s even more beautiful to win like that, not racism,” rejoiced Rafael Leao.

The reactions were not limited to her teammates and France, where the Minister responsible for equality between women and men and the fight against discrimination Aurore Bergé described Maignan as “the face of dignity”.

Other Serie A clubs have given their support to the French goalkeeper like the great rival, Inter: “We are brothers, against all forms of discrimination and by your side”.

“There is no place for racism in football, we support Maignan and strongly condemn what happened in Udine,” stressed the president of the Italian Football Federation, Gabriele Gravina, who welcomed the referee’s decision to interrupt the match.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino called on him to ban perpetrators of racist insults from all stadiums, as well as to introduce an “automatic package” sanction for clubs whose fans commit these misdeeds.

While she is regularly confronted with the scourge of racism in stadiums, as experienced by the Ivorian Marc-André Zoro in 2005, the Ghanaian Kevin-Prince Boateng in 2013 or this season the Belgian Romelu Lukaku, Italy is still far from such firmness.

Fiorentina was thus sanctioned in November with a suspended closed-door match for racist songs by its supporters.

“How is it possible that in 2024 we still hear racist songs in a stadium? The problem in my opinion is cultural: I am no longer surprised, because in this country ignorance triumphs and racism has always been hand in hand with ignorance,” accused Arrigo Sacchi, the former Italian coach in an op-ed published by the Gazzetta dello Sport which headlines on the onee of “The shame of Udine”.