A victim of racist chants in the middle of a match, French goalkeeper Mike Mignon leaves the pitch in Italy

AC Milan and France goalkeeper Mike Mignon left the field after being the target of racist abuse during his team’s match at the Udinese stadium on Saturday.

When he was about to play a six-metre throw, Mignon, visibly shocked and angry, headed to the sidelines in the 34th minute of the game, followed by his AC Milan teammates.

While the 28-year-old Magnan explained to him that the Udinese supporters installed in the stands behind his goal were shouting monkeys at him, the Milan players remained on the edge of the field for several minutes.

Already a victim of racism

They then returned to the locker room where, according to images from the DAZN platform, Mignon, by his side, was comforted by teammates such as Portuguese Rafael Leo and members of the AC Milan management. The match was immediately interrupted by the match referee in the 38th minute, then resumed after a five-minute interruption. Born in Guyana to a Guadeloupe father and Haitian mother, the goalkeeper had already warned match referee Fabio Maresca in the 25th minute of the game.

Despite the messages being broadcast in the stadium, the racist abuse continued, until the match was interrupted after a loud gesture from the Blues goalkeeper. On his return to the field, with his team leading 1-0 from the 31st minute of the game, Mignon, who trained at Paris SG and moved through Lille (2015-21) before joining AC Milan, was jeered every time he touched the ball. .

He conceded the first goal in the 41st minute on Lazar Samardzic’s long shot, followed by Florian Thauvin’s (60th) second after the break. AC Milan published a message of support for its goalkeeper on its social network before the end of the match: “There is no place for racism in our game, we are outraged, we are with you”, wrote the Lombard club. Since his arrival in Italy, Magnan has already been a victim of racism, having been insulted by a Juventus Turin supporter in September 2021. Italian football still cannot escape the turmoil of racism, with each season punctuated by incidents of a racist or anti-Semitic nature. This season, several clubs have been sanctioned for racist abuse and chants from their supporters, but the bans are considered too weak to have a lasting impact.

Fiorentina were sanctioned in November with a suspended match behind closed doors after ultras chanted racist chants before and after a home defeat by Juve (1-0) against three Juventus players, Dusan Vlahovic, Moise Kean and Weston Mackay. Lazio Rome will play its next home match in front of many closed stands at the Stadio Olimpico as punishment after the monkey cried by targeting Roma’s Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku during the European Cup derby. ‘Italy.