Black players in Milan’s Under-10 team were allegedly subject to heckling and racist abuse during Sunday’s 4-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Universal Cup.
In a statement on the club’s website, Milan said “it has been brought to our attention... that during yesterday’s match between Milan-PSG, that there was alleged incidents of racism from certain ‘people’ in the stands towards Milan’s black players.
“We do not wish to magnify the issue, but truly hope that these reports aren’t true or that it was simply a sporadic incident. If they were to be confirmed, then it would be simply unacceptable,” concluded the statement.
Milan play Benfica in Monday’s semi-final of the prestigious youth tournament, which is taking place in Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany. Chelsea, Ajax, Inter Milan, Benfica, Juventus and Roma also have youth sides taking part in the tournament.
There have been several incidents of racism in Italian football, notably when then Milan player Kevin-Prince Boateng led his teammates off the field in protest after racial abuse by opposing fans during a friendly match in January 2013.
In November 2014, the Italian FA president Carlo Tavecchio was banned for six months by Fifa and Uefa for allegedly making a racist comment about African players.
