Lukaku’s own fans at Inter tell him monkey chants are ‘not racist’

Black players were yesterday advised to quit Italian football after Romelu Lukaku’s own club’s fans accused him of creating something from nothing by condemning monkey chants directed at him.

Lukaku, who joined Inter Milan from Manchester United last month, was abused by Cagliari supporters in his second Serie A match on Sunday. The 26-year-old wrote a Twitter message the following day urging football authorities to do more to combat racism.

But instead of backing him, Inter ultras from the San Siro’s Curva Nord defended their counterparts, claiming in an open letter on Facebook that the chants were not racist and warning him to expect similar abuse at future matches.

It said: “It could have seemed racist to you but it is not like that. In Italy we use some ‘ways’ only to ‘help our teams’ and to try to make our opponents nervous, not for racism but to mess them up. Please consider this attitude of Italian fans as a form of respect for the fact they are afraid of you.”

That prompted a withering response from former Chelsea striker Demba Ba, who tweeted: “Here’s

Target: Romelu Lukaku had monkey chants directed at him by Cagliari fans the reason why I decided not to play there when I could ... and I wish all the black players would get out of this league!”

Even the Italian league’s disciplinary judge appeared not to be on Lukaku’s side, saying this week he needed more evidence before deciding if Cagliari – who promised to ban any fan found to have been involved – should be punished for the chants. League judge Gerardo Mastrandrea did not even mention the word “racist” in his weekly report.

Meanwhile, the Professional Footballers’ Association and Kick It Out yesterday both published action plans to combat racist abuse on social media after meetings with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The PFA called for targeted monitoring of player accounts, with abusive posts removed “without delay” and offending accounts deleted, while Kick It Out said it would meet the UK Football Policing Unit and the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss how to best identify and punish anyone who tweeted discriminatory abuse.