Serie A - Moratti: Match should have been stopped

Eurosport - Mon, 21 Sep 20:18:00 2009

Internazionale's Serie A game at Cagliari should have been halted when fans started to racially abuse striker Mario Balotelli, president Massimo Moratti has said.

Balotelli Inter - 0

Juventus were forced to play a match behind closed doors last season after their fans sang racist chants against Balotelli (pictured), who is Italian but of Ghanaian descent.

Following that incident, Italy's soccer authorities said games should be suspended in cases of racist abuse if police agreed. However, the referee at Cagliari took no action.

"The referee should have stopped the match because of the racist chants towards Balotelli," Moratti said after Inter had largely stayed silent about the matter after the game.

Inter coach Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands for arguing with officials about an on-field incident during the match and the league has imposed a one-game ban on the Portuguese.

No sanction has so far been sought against Cagliari for the chants.

Moratti was astounded that only the outspoken Mourinho had been punished.

"On the basis of what I have been told, Mourinho definitely did not insult the referee and we didn't expect this type of sanction," he said.

"I would not want his lively character to be confused with aggressive behaviour."

Moratti also denied Inter were interested in signing Sampdoria's in-form forward Antonio Cassano and said having Juve at the top of the standings made Serie A more competitive and was good for champions Inter.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 8 of 8

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. Not condoning the racism that was shown and certainly­ police should have ordered the match stopped, but Mario­ Balotelli does make a very poor impression on people­ with his behavior, i can see how a drunken passionate­ idiotic fan can target Balotelli.

    From football4life, on Fri 25 Sep 2:12AM
  2. why when the black got racism id big deal.the white is­ good but the black are always on camon

    From dameisma, on Thu 24 Sep 10:18PM
  3. not again..this young has done nothing wrong than play­ football...i feel for him. it's time Fifa and Uefa­ ban some fans and fine those clubs with the hugest­ amount to send a clear message...

    From guy, on Tue 22 Sep 10:33AM
  4. James,
    orange is orange and yellow is yellow, so what­ is­ monkey?
    Monkey is White. You piece-o-@#$%.

    From Paul E, on Tue 22 Sep 4:15AM
  5. james OR JONKEY,SOME MONKEY IS WHITE AND DEFFRENT­ COLOUR...

    From petlopezm, on Mon 21 Sep 9:21PM
  6. james, that's you

    From Half A Brain, on Mon 21 Sep 9:19PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    orange is orange and yellow is yellow, so what is­ monkey?

    From james, on Mon 21 Sep 9:13PM
  8. Where are FIFA or UEFA now? I thought they were on as­ big campaign to clean up the game.

    Is it now not clear­ that they were simply trying to road-block English­ teams in their actions against CHelsea and­ Arsenal?

    But when its in Italy (hint hint, Euro­ connections) against a Black player (but hey its not­ racism right, Italians just seem to have a lot fo­ racism-like qualities in their 'culture'), UEFA­ and FIFA go awol. Surely racism is more disgraceful­ than anything they claimed Arsenal or Chelsea did?

    From TD, on Mon 21 Sep 8:40PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account