Saturday evening, the Serie A match between Udinese and AC Milan was interrupted for several minutes. The fault is the racist invectives coming down from the stands against Mike Maignan, the Rossoneri goalkeeper. The latter then stopped playing and returned to the locker room accompanied by his teammates, before returning later to finish the match.
Fabio Maresca, referee of the match, did not hesitate to stop the match in view of the situation. And exchanged a few words with the tricolor doorman who was heading towards the locker room: “I behaved like an older brother, I felt sincere regret for Maignan who was clearly affected on an emotional level: as I felt bad to comfortable in the face of these rude boos,” he told RMC Sport. “The player was emotionally affected. Obviously I put a hand on his shoulder but he independently went to the fourth official to represent the situation. The fourth referee informed me and I tried to reassure Maignan, humanly too, in case he had a strong reaction.
The Italian referee continued his remarks: “The announcement was repeated over the loudspeakers and finally there was the expected suspension of the match. The referee can then ask the teams to leave the field, which however did not happen yesterday. In more serious cases, this could lead to the match being interrupted by consulting the person responsible for public order, but it was not even necessary to come to that point. He finally concluded by saying that “Those who love this sport, players, referees, supporters, feel pain to see a match interrupted for such a vulgar event by the behavior of some. Because it only concerns certain people and we must not generalize.”
AC Milan ultimately won the game, but perhaps the most important thing wasn’t there. Mike Maignan received numerous support from football personalities, and the attitude of the supporters concerned was unanimously condemned.
