Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci says team-mate Moise Kean was partly to blame for being racially abused during his side’s win against Cagliari.
Kean, starting in place of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, sealed the 2-0 win when he scored in the 85th minute.
The striker celebrated in front of the Cagliari fans and the 19-year-old was subjected to racist abuse from the home support, who allegedly made monkey chants towards the striker.
The teenager has opted to play for Italy despite being eligible to represent the Ivory Coast but Bonucci says Kean must take his share of the ‘blame’ for choosing to celebrate in front of the home support.
⚫⚪ Moise Kean scores for Juventus!
He has scored in his last 4 games for Juventus now ?#SerieA pic.twitter.com/tHjJUhRYXn
— Premier Sports ? (@PremierSportsTV) April 2, 2019
‘Kean knows that when he scores a goal, he has to focus on celebrating with his teammates. He knows he could’ve done something differently too,’ Bonucci told Sky Sports Italia .
‘There were racist jeers after the goal, Blaise heard it and was angered. I think the blame is 50-50, because Moise shouldn’t have done that and the Curva should not have reacted that way.
‘We are professionals, we have to set the example and not provoke anyone.’
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri claims he did not hear the chants but condemned supporters he targeted Kean with abuse and demanded lifetime bans for the culprits.
‘He scored another goal and did better in the second half, whereas he got more or less everything wrong in the first half,” he told Sky Sports Italia .
‘I didn’t hear anything from the stands, as I was focused on the game. You need great intelligence to deal with these situations and should not go to provoke people. That, of course, does not mean the idiots in the crowd and the way they reacted should be justified.
‘As always in life, there are idiots who do stupid things and ruin it for everyone else. I don’t think talking about it all the time helps. I don’t think halting play helps, because not everyone in the stadium did that.
‘We need to use the cameras, find those who are doing it and punish them. It’s very simple, identify them and not one-year ban or two, just give them a lifetime ban. We’ve got the technology, it can be done if the authorities want to. The problem is, they don’t really want to.’
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