Milan: Lazio were fined $22,000 but temporarily avoided a stadium closure on Wednesday after their fans targeted Brescia striker Mario Balotelli with racist chants.
Serie A judge Gerardo Mastrandrea requested that further details on the case be handled by the Italian football federation prosecutor to determine exactly where in the stadium the chants came from, and to what extent Lazio collaborate in terms of identifying those responsible, before possible further punishment.
Sunday’s game was halted for a few minutes shortly after the half-hour mark and an announcement to stop the chants was made to fans at the stadium in Brescia.
Racism has been a problem all season in Italy with offensive chants also aimed at Romelu Lukaku, Franck Kessie, Dalbert Henrique, Miralem Pjanic, Ronaldo Vieira and Kalidou Koulibaly. All of the players targeted — except for Pjanic, who is Bosnian — are black, and many of the incidents have gone unpunished.
