Milan keeper walks off pitch after racist chants as ‘ignorant’ fans slammed in football drama
Mike Maignan fired back at “ignorant” fans who aimed monkey chants at the France goalkeeper during AC Milan’s dramatic 3-2 win at Udinese which was temporarily halted due to the abuse.
Milan are six points behind league leaders Inter Milan, who are in Saudi Arabia contesting the Italian Super Cup, in third place after Noah Okafor poked home the winner in the third minute of stoppage time.
But the match was marred by a group of Udinese supporters racially abusing Maignan during the first half, leading to referee Fabio Maresca stopping play and a livid Maignan storming down the tunnel with his teammates.
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Talking to Sky Sport, Maignan said that he first heard monkey chants when he collected the ball for his first goal kick, after which he “said nothing”.
“Then for the second goal kick they did it again. I called to the dugout and the fourth official and I told them what had happened. I said that we can’t play in these conditions because it’s not the first time that it’s happened with me or other players,” he said.
“They’re ignorant people... You can be booed or whistled when you’re away from home, that’s normal, but what happened today has no place in football.” Play resumed after about five minutes, with Milan leading at that point thanks to Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s fine finish just after the half-hour mark.
But after the match restarted Milan were clearly rocked and three minutes before the break Lazar Samardzic levelled for the hosts by strolling through midfield and rifling home an unstoppable low shot.
Florian Thuavin put the hosts in front in the 62nd minute after bundling past Tijjani Reijnders and Theo Hernandez and smashing home a shot just above Maignan’s head.
However Milan fought
Read on foxsports.com.au
