What should have been a moment of great joy for Inter Milan’s Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku turned sour on Monday evening. After having scored a last minute equalizer for his club in Tuesday evening’s Italian Cup semi-final first leg match against Juventus, Lukaku was given a red card for the way in which he celebrated his goal.
The match referee judged Big Rom’s celebration of his goal to be “too provocative” towards the Juventus fans, many of home had chanted racists slurs against Lukuku while he was taking the penalty that resulted in Inter drawing level in the 94th minute of the game.
In an interview after the match the Inter Milian Coach Filippo Inzaghi said that the red card was the result of “a misunderstanding”.
Juventus were 1-0 up in the 4th minute of second half injury time when Inter Milan were awarded a penalty. As Romelu Lukaku stepped up to take the spot kick he was subjected to a tirade of vile racist slurs, including monkey noises, from the Juventus fans.
Lukaku, who had been brought in as a substitute midway through the second half scored from the penalty spot.
The Belgian striker and his Inter Milan teammates were ecstatic. Lukaku, put his finger on his mouth, as he had done after he scored for Belgium in our national team's Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden.
However, this time a certain amount of anger appeared be behind his gesture. Romelu Lukaku also shouted something tot he Juventus fans.
The Italian sports journalist Simone Togna confirms that “There were racist chants directed towards him while he was taking his penalty”.