Brescia punished for Pjanic abuse

Brescia have been hit with a partial stadium closure following racial abuse aimed at Juventus' Miralem Pjanic, although the punishment is suspended.

The midfielder hit the winning goal in a 2-1 victory for the Serie A champions on Tuesday but was reportedly subjected to chants of "zingaro", which in English translates as "gypsy". Bosnia-Herzegovina international Pjanic subsequently condemned "demented racists" in a post on Instagram about the incident. Serie A disciplinary chiefs stated in a bulletin on Friday that Brescia's 'Curva Nord' section of their stadium would be closed for one home game; however, it added that the punishment has been suspended for a period of 12 months.

 

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A post shared by Miralem Pjanić (@miralem_pjanic) on Sep 25, 2019 at 10:12am PDT

Earlier this season, Cagliari avoided punishment from the league after Inter striker Romelu Lukaku was racially abused. Lukaku was subjected to monkey chants, yet it was ruled by the sporting justice panel of the Italian FA that there was too much shouting and whistling to identify the "discriminatory" nature. The recent Serie A game between Atalanta and Fiorentina was also suspended for a short period after racist insults were aimed at Viola defender Dalbert.

Roma this week banned a fan for life after sending Juan Jesus racist messages via social media.

 

September 27, 2019

"Are you really serious about tackling racism in Italian football, @SerieA? It's time for zero tolerance," Roma posted on Twitter on Friday.

The Lega Serie A account replied, suggesting Roma had been slow off the mark themselves in one respect, stating: "Dear @ASRomaEN, we're all on the same side. Together, we're building the Serie A TIM team against racism: we've been eagerly awaiting the name of your ambassador for three weeks!"