Lazio blame individuals for Mussolini banner and Bakayoko abuse

Milan: Lazio have blamed “isolated elements” after some of their supporters displayed a banner honouring Benito Mussolini and aimed racist insults at an AC Milan player in separate incidents before their Coppa Italia match.

Gazzetta dello Sport published a video clip of Lazio fans chanting insults about Milan midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko outside San Siro ahead of the game on Wednesday evening.

The same insults were also heard inside the ground as the teams were warming up, Italian media reported.

Earlier, a group of fans were photographed unveiling a banner that read ‘Honour to Benito Mussolini’ in the city centre.

“Lazio takes clear distances from behaviour and events that do not reflect in any way the sporting values sustained and promoted by the club for 119 years,” the club said in a statement. “And it rejects and disputes the simplistic tendency of some media to consider the entire Lazio support jointly responsible for acts carried out by a few and isolated elements, for reasons foreign to any form of sporting passion.”