In the decision, the magistrate recognized the disagreement between the players on the field. However, he argued that “the discriminatory content, without calling into question the good faith of the Napoli player, appears to have been perceived only by the offended player, without the support of any external attestative evidence, be it audio, video or testimonial”.
For him, although “discriminatory conduct must be sanctioned with the greatest severity”, there is no punishment in this case because “the imposition of such sanctions must be supported by a minimum amount of evidence or by serious, precise and consistent evidence”. And “in this case, the minimum level of reasonable certainty regarding the discriminatory content of the infraction is not reached.”
News of the week: denunciation of racism, Brazil’s candidacy and bee attack
Italian football is on hold for the FIFA date in March, and Inter Milan returns to the field next Monday, against Empoli, in Serie A.
At 15 minutes of the second half, Juan called referee Federico La Penna to warn him of the offense made by Acerbi. According to the Italian press, lip reading indicates that the Brazilian says to the judge: “He called me black. So he doesn’t.”
In his conversation with the referee, Jesus even shows the hallmark of the campaign against racism carried out by Serie A, the league that organizes the Italian Championship. The logo, printed on all uniforms, has the phrase “Keep racism out”.
La Penna calls Acerbi, and Juan confronts the Inter defender. Afterwards, full-back Dimarco, from the Milan team, talks to Jesus, who played for Inter between 2011 and 2016. The Brazilian defender and Acerbi made peace moments later.
Tags: Acerbi acquitted racism accusation Juan Jesus italian football
