Inter Milan vs. SSC Naples: Kalidou Koulibaly is insulted

SSC Napoli, second in Serie A, lost 0-1 (0-0) as the third defender of Inter Milan, nine points behind Juventus, champion after 18 matches. But after the match at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, the result was minimal. The main theme was mbadive racial insults against Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.

The original Frenchman with Senegalese roots had been provoked several times during the match with monkey lutes coming from the bleachers. "What is happening today is not only good for us, it is not for Italian football as a whole," said the Napoli coach, Carlo Ancelotti, after the final whistle. "I am really sorry for Koulibaly, we asked three times and asked the referee team to stop the match."

There should also have been three loudspeaker announcements in the stadium, in which the spectators were asked to refrain from insults. "Next time, we will stop playing, even if we lose the match," said Ancelotti. "We are told again and again that the games can be interrupted, but when, only after four or five announcements?"

Koulibaly flies from the place

Koulibaly was swept into the heated atmosphere at an impertinence. In the 80th minute, he saw a yellow card for a foul on Matteo Politano. Because he reacted to the decision by applauding the referee, he was quickly thrown out with yellow red. At that time he was still 0-0. Later, Koulibaly apologized to his teammates with a Twitter message, but added that he was proud of his color and that he was "French, Senegalese and Neapolitan".

Argentina's Lautaro Martinez scored the winning goal for Inter in overtime. The frustrated Napoli striker, Lorenzo Insigne, saw a red card shortly afterwards for a derogatory gesture towards the referee.

Racism has long been a problem in Italian football. Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari had left the field as a result of racist harbadment. German national player Antonio Rüdiger spoke in SPIEGEL's interview about his bitter experiences in Serie A in the lead-up to the World Cup in Russia.

And even Koulibaly was not the first victim of insults of the hierarchy. In February 2016, Lazio was sentenced to two home games in private, after Koulibaly was attacked by "clearly racist" cries. At that time, the match between Lazio and Naples was interrupted for four minutes.