A group of Inter Milan “ultra” fans say monkey chants at soccer matches are not meant to be racist.
The group posted a statement posted on its Facebook page after Cagliari supporters racially abused Inter striker Romelu Lukaku.
The fan group “L’Urlo della Nord” — translated to “Scream of the North” — writes “we understand that it could have seemed racist to you, but it is not like that. In Italy we use some ‘ways’ only to ‘help our teams’ and to try to make our opponents nervous, not for racism but to mess them up.”
The fans added “we have always used that ‘way’ with other teams’ players in the past and we probably will in the future. We are not racist and so are not the Cagliari fans.”
Lukaku converted Inter’s winning penalty kick against Cagliari on Sunday and then glared at home fans behind the goal as they directed monkey chants at him.
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