VIDEO. Victim of racist cries, the goalkeeper of the France team and Inter Milan Mike Maignan leaves the field in the middle of a match

Le Français n'a pas voulu laisser passer cet incident inacceptable. MAXPPP – GABRIELE MENIS

AC Milan and France goalkeeper Mike Maignan left the field after being the target of racist insults on Saturday January 20 during his team's match in the stadium of Udinese.

While he had to play a six-meter throw, Maignan, visibly in shock and angry, headed towards the sidelines in the 34th minute of game and was then followed by his AC Milan teammates.

While Maignan, 28, explained to them that Udinese supporters, installed in the stands behind his goal, were shouting like monkeys at him, the Milan players remained at the edge of the field for several minutes.

They then returned to the locker room where, according to images from the DAZN platform, Maignan, beside himself, was comforted by teammates, like the Portuguese Rafael Leao, and members of the management of AC Milan.

2024 et on assiste encore à ce genre d'images ! 🤮

FORCE à Mike Maignan, victime de racisme sur la pelouse de l'Udinese. 🇫🇷✊

🎥 @footballontnt

pic.twitter.com/l8TBFobAfy

— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) January 20, 2024

The match interrupted then resumed

The match was immediately interrupted by the match referee in the 38th minute, then resumed after a five-minute interruption. The goalkeeper, born in Guyana, to a Guadeloupean father and a Haitian mother, had already alerted the referee of the match, Fabio Maresca, in the 25th minute of play.

Despite messages broadcast in the stadium, the racist insults continued, until the match was interrupted after a strong gesture from the Blues goalkeeper. On his return to the field, while his team led 1-0 since the 31st minute of play, Maignan, trained at Paris SG and passed through Lille (2015-21) before joining AC Milan, was yelled at every time he touched the ball.

"We are outraged, we are with you"

He conceded a first goal in the 41st minute on a long shot from Lazar Samardzic, then a second after the break by Florian Thauvin (60th). AC Milan published a message of support for its goalkeeper on its social networks before the end of the match: "There is absolutely no place for racism in our sport, we are outraged, we are with you,” wrote the Lombard club.

Since his arrival in Italy, Maignan has already been the victim of racism, insulted in September 2021 by a Juventus Turin supporter. Italian football still cannot rid itself of the scourge of racism, each season is punctuated by incidents of a racist or anti-Semitic nature.

Far from being a first

This season, several clubs have been sanctioned for racist insults and chants from their supporters, but the sanctions are considered far too weak to have a lasting effect.

Fiorentina was sanctioned in November with a suspended match behind closed doors, after racist chants were sung by ultras against three players of the Juventus, Dusan Vlahovic, Moise Kean and Weston McKennie before and after the home defeat against Juve (1-0).

For its part, Lazio Rome will play its next home match in front of several closed stands at the Stadio Olimpico, as a sanction following the monkey cries aimed at the Belgian striker of the Roma Romelu Lukaku, during the Italian Cup derby.