Oh for crying out loud: Milan’s Kessie and Bakayoko referred by the FIGC to court

This is all beyond stupid. AC Milan, Lazio, and Serie A in general deserve much better than what is currently going on.

Ignoring racial abuse isn’t the only thing that the FIGC seems to be doing these days. Now the FIGC is reportedly referring the “incident” involving Franck Kessie and Tiémoué Bakayoko to the Federal National Court. Penalties could include fines for the players and discipline including being suspended for Serie A matches.

This is the same FIGC which failed to act against Inter Milan fans racially abusing Kessie during the Derby della Madonnina and against Cagliari for abusing Juventus forward Moise Kean.

The FIGC and Italian football in general have a credibility problem when it comes to discipline for racial abuse, and the outcry and over-the-top reaction to Bakayoko and Kessie holding up Francesco Acerbi’s jersey will not do them any favors. It’s apparently more acceptable to those in charge of Italian football for fans to make monkey noises at players than it is for players to do something that even the other team thinks is just banter and not a big deal. Acerbi even went so far as to accept the pair’s apology and call for an end to the controversy.

While it just might a coincidence that the two players that are currently being threatened with large fines or bans by the Federal National Court are either African or of African heritage, it certainly doesn’t seem that way. This whole episode does nothing but make Serie A look backwards and the fans and players of the league deserve better.