Atalanta vs Juventus stopped due to racist chants towards Dusan Vlahovic… before striker silences crowd with late goal

Posted Monday, May 08, 2023 by Thesun.co.uk

THE Serie A match between Atalanta and Juventus was stopped after racist chanting could be heard from the crowd.

Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic was the victim of sickening chants from Atalanta fans at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, northern Italy.

Dusan Vlahovic shushed the crowd after racist chanting aimed towards him

Dusan Vlahovic silences the crowd in Bergamo! 💥

A top finish and no mercy with the celebration either... 🤫 pic.twitter.com/3wGouFdY2y
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 7, 2023

Reporters in Italy said the crowd were chanting "gypsy s***" towards the 23-year-old.

In response, referee Daniele Doveri stopped the game.

However, the shocking chants then came back stronger following the restart.

Serbian striker Vlahovic then silenced the crowd with a stunning late goal deep into stoppage time to add to Englishman Samuel Iling-Junior's first-half effort.

Following his goal, the former Arsenal transfer target aimed a shushing gesture to the crowd.

Vlahovic was then given a yellow card for his celebration.

Italian journalist Leonardo Bertozzi slammed the procedure after the chants - before questioning whether a caution should have been given to Vlahovic.

He wrote on Twitter: "The protocol (when followed) is inefficient and the lack of severe punishment is practically an invitation to repeat these cases...

"Is it worth stopping the game and ignoring the context of the outburst afterwards?"

This echoes sickening scenes last month when Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku was sent off following his shushing celebration after being on the end of racist chants from Juventus fans.

Comments made by Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini following the incident were also slammed as "disgusting" by journalist Marco Giordano.

Gasperini told Sky Sport after the game: "Fighting racism? Yes, but we need to differentiate: we too have players like [Mario] Pasalic or [Berat] Djimsiti.

"We don't need to lump everything together."

Both Atalanta stars Gasperini named in his interview, like Vlahovic, hail from the Balkans.