The racist abuse of Juventus forward Moise Kean was “intolerable”, says Italy manager Roberto Mancini.
Kean scored in Juve’s win at Cagliari on Tuesday and celebrated by holding his arms outstretched, seemingly in response to racist chants.
Mancini gave the 19-year-old his international debut in November and Kean scored in both of his country’s Euro 2020 qualifying wins in March.
“It can’t go on. It needs action and it needs to be tough,” Mancini said, adding that “Even in England, where they are far ahead of us in the fight against racism, these things still happen – but we must do a lot more to eliminate them altogether.”
After Tuesday’s match, Juventus captain Leonardo Bonucci suggested Kean was partly culpable for the chants because of his celebration.
Bonucci said his team-mate “could have done it differently” and “the blame is 50-50”, although the defender later said his comments had been misunderstood.
On the celebrations, former Manchester City boss Mancini said: “Kean’s a golden lad. Maybe next time he won’t do it. I think he was distressed.”
Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling, who made a similar stand against racist chanting last month, called Bonucci’s comments laughable.
Racist chanting was directed at several England players during their 5-1 Euro 2020 qualifying win over Montenegro in Podgorica in March.
Sterling gestured to the crowd by putting his hands to his ears after scoring, and later called on football’s authorities to take “a proper stance” against racist abuse.
Some have suggested England’s players should have walked off the field, but manager Gareth Southgate said he was “not 100% certain that that would be what the players would want”.
England women manager Phil Neville said the abuse was “disgusting” and added he “hopes he’d have the courage” to bring a team off to make a real stance.
“We’ve got to a point where we can no longer keep sweeping things under the carpet with a £10,000 or £20,000 fine, or close half a stadium, because I’m not so sure we are getting to the bottom of the real issue,” he said.
“It’ll only take one manager to do that, to make a real stance – because it’s disgusting and sad and it’s still happening.
“We have a lot of really good campaigns, but it’s still there in society and in football and I’m not so sure it’s getting better – so we have to deal with it in the strongest possible way.”