Anderlecht boss Vincent Kompany has labelled the racist abuse Romelu Lukaku suffered on Sunday “disgraceful” and he has called for more diversity among football institutions.
Lukaku, a former team-mate of Kompany’s for Belgium, was subjected to monkey chants by Cagliari supporters as he prepared to take a penalty for his new club Inter Milan.
“I always take it much further. Romelu is obviously a victim of something disgraceful that happened but not just in a football stadium, also in society,” Kompany told Sky Sports News.
It is not the first time this has happened at Cagliari. Last season, Everton’s Moise Kean suffered similar taunts when playing for Juventus, while in 2018 another Juventus player Blaise Matuidi was also abused at the Sardegna Arena.
In 2017, Pescara midfielder Sulley Muntari walked off the pitch after being racially abused by Cagliari fans.
Muntari was subsequently banned for his protest but the football authorities have taken no action against Cagliari.
Kompany believes a lack of diversity in the institutions whose job it is to tackle racism is part of the problem.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
A photo posted by on
“You are dealing with a group of people and decision makers who are trying to explain to Romelu how he should be feeling and what he should think about this when actually we have no decision makers who are remotely in touch with what he is experiencing,” said the former Manchester City captain.
“So if you go back to who he is now expecting a decision from – the institutions – that’s where the problem lies.
“Real racism lies in the fact that none of these institutions have representatives that can actually understand what Romelu is going through. That’s the real issue.
Manchester United duo Paul Pogba (left) and Marcus Rashford have also recently suffered racist abuse (Dave Thompson/PA)
“On boards at UEFA and in England and Italy and most places there is a problem with diversity in places of power and in board rooms.
“If you don’t have that diversity then you can’t have the right decisions in terms of sanctions, it’s as simple as that.”
Lukaku is the latest victim to suffer racist abuse following recent cases involving Manchester United players Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford and Chelsea duo Tammy Abraham and Kurt Zouma.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.
