Giorgio Chiellini has reiterated his defence of Moise Kean after the Juventus striker was racially abused. “He’s a symbol of our rebirth, like Zaniolo.”
Kean was insulted throughout Juve’s 2-0 win at Cagliari on Tuesday, and the chants became of a clearly racist nature after he scored his side’s second goal and celebrated in front of the Sardinian supporters.
Giorgio Chiellini has reiterated his defence of Moise Kean after the Juventus striker was racially abused. “He’s a symbol of our rebirth, like Zaniolo.”
Kean was insulted throughout Juve’s 2-0 win at Cagliari on Tuesday, and the chants became of a clearly racist nature after he scored his side’s second goal and celebrated in front of the Sardinian supporters.
“I’m very sorry and of course I condemn racism in a clear and complete way,” Chiellini told Tuttosport.
“Now my concern is that Moise is being targeted for what he isn’t. He’s not a provocateur. He only did one thing: score. Period.
“His celebration was silent, without doing anything in particular. He isn’t at fault and for me he’s a good face for Italian football.
“He’s 19 and he’s very strong. He must be judged for what he is: a good lad who works well.
“Like Zaniolo he’s a good face for Italian football, a symbol of the rebirth of our movement.
“What happened didn’t have to happen, the insults and all the rest of it, but he was very good.
“I have to be honest: we didn’t understand much of what was going on. I had to review the video footage to realise Kean didn't do anything wrong, celebrating still and in silence.
“The only thing wrong Kean did was dive because it wasn’t a nice gesture: he got away and looked for a contact that didn’t exist.
The Bianconeri captain was then asked about Blaise Matuidi, who had been targeted by Cagliari fans last year and immediately called for the game to be suspended.
“If Matuidi gets angry, it’s indicative,” continued the 34-year-old.
“Blaise is a golden boy, he never loses patience and seeing him so furious surprised me.
“He went to ask the referee to suspend the game and make announcements, which is indeed what happened.”