Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has offered support to Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly after the player was racially abused recently. Maradona said he had also suffered racial slurs during his playing time in Italy.
Senegal international Koulibaly, 27, was subjected to racist insults including monkey chants in Napoli’s Boxing Day game at Inter Milan.
Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti said after the 1-0 defeat, during which Koulibaly was sent off, that members of his staff had repeatedly asked for the game to be suspended due to the slurs directed by Inter fans at the central defender.
The ugly incidents led to an outpouring of support for Koulibaly from the football fraternity, including from high-profile players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah.
Also on rt.com 'Don’t react to this bullsh*t!': Football world unites over Koulibaly monkey chantsThat has now extended to World Cup winner Maradona, 58, who played some of the finest football of his career at Napoli in the ‘80s and early ‘90s.
The Argentine great posted a picture on Instagram of himself holding up a Koulibaly shirt along with a message of support that explained how he had also suffered racist abuse from some fans while playing in Italy.
“I played for seven years in Napoli, and I also suffered the racist songs of some fans,” Maradona wrote.
“I still remember the flags that said ‘Welcome to Italy’. I feel Neapolitan and today I want to be with Kalidou Koulibaly. I hope that all this helps to ends racism in football once and for all. Greetings to all! #NoRacism.”
Inter Milan were ordered to play two home games behind closed doors over the shocking incident.
However, Koulibaly’s two-game suspension for his red card, which came as a result of him earning a second yellow card for remonstrating with the referee over a decision late on in the game, will still stand.
Napoli fans donned Koulibaly masks and held up posters of the player during their team’s 3-2 Serie A win against Bologna on Saturday.
READ MORE: Napoli fans to don Koulibaly masks in support of racially-abused defender