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Cristiano Ronaldo Wants 'Education and Respect' After Kalidou Koulibaly Incident
December 27, 2018
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has called for "education and respect" after Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly suffered racist abuse on Wednesday during his side's clash with Inter Milan.
Koulibaly and his manager, Carlo Ancelotti, both commented following Napoli's 1-0 loss to Inter in Serie A at the San Siro. The Napoli defender was sent off during the game after picking up two yellow cards.
On Thursday, Ronaldo took to social media to post the following image:
Per Football Italia, an accompanying message read: "I always want education and respect in life and football. No to racism any other type of offence and discrimination!!!"
In his own social media post, Koulibaly wrote, "I am proud of the colour of my skin. Proud to be French, Senegalese, Neapolitan: a man," per the Guardian.Â
Ancelotti told reporters he sought to get the match suspended three times to no avail, and he added a repeat of the incident in the future could see the team walk off the pitch.
"Koulibaly was certainly irritable," he said. "Usually, he is very calm and professional, but he was subjected to monkey noises throughout the game. We asked three times for some action to be taken, but the match continued. ...They’ll probably make us lose the game if we walk off, but we are prepared to do it."
Koulibaly was subject to racist abuse from Juventus supporters in October. As a result, the Italian champions had to close part of their ground for their game with Genoa, per Taiye Taiwo of Goal.
Carlo Garganese of Goal is worried by the amount of similar incidents happening in the modern game:
Carlo Garganese @carlogarganeseWhat we’ve seen in English football this season, and again tonight at Inter v Napoli with Koulibaly, we‘re moving back to the days of the 1980s with fan racism towards black players. So much intolerance in the world right now - and the broken political system is largely to blame
Koulibaly has established himself as one of the best defenders in world football during his time at Napoli. He was key in the Partenopei pushing Juventus so close in the race for the title last term and has recently been linked with a £90 million move to Manchester United, per Duncan Castles of the Sunday Times.
Ronaldo only arrived in Serie A in the summer but has made a major impression at Juventus already. He came off the bench against Atalanta in a 2-2 draw on Boxing Day to score his 12th goal of the Italian top-flight season.