Chelsea
head coach Maurizio Sarri condemned discrimination in any form in his first
public comments since the alleged racist abuse of Manchester City forward
Raheem Sterling at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.
Chelsea and the Metropolitan Police launched investigations into alleged
racist abuse from a section of home supporters towards Sterling in last
Saturday's 2-0 win for the Blues. Chelsea subsequently suspended four people
in connection with the incident.
"First of all I want to say that I condemn any form of discrimination, of
course. I think that I have to stop here," Sarri said.
"Because there is an investigation so I think it's better not to say
something more. Of course my opinion is that I condemn every sort of
discrimination."
Sarri and the club preferred to move on and focus on Thursday's Europa
League match with Vidi in Budapest after a fourth question on the subject.
"It was disgusting. You know very well my opinion, the opinion of the club,
but now we have to go on," the Italian added.
Sarri was joined at his pre-match news conference by Sterling's England
team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who emphasised the need to completely
eradicate racism from football.
Asked if he had ever been the victim of racism, the Chelsea midfielder said:
"Off the football pitch I have, years ago, but never on the football pitch.
"It doesn't happen a lot in England, but obviously still happens. Most
people don't like this and it needs to be out of the game as quick as
possible.
"When incidents do come like this, we need to take a hard response on it."
Loftus-Cheek also backed Sterling for taking a stand against the unfair
portrayal of black footballers from certain sections of the media, which the
Manchester City forward claimed is "fuelling racism".
He added: "I haven't spoken to Raheem about it. I prefer to leave him and
let him deal with it mentally himself. He's a strong-minded person, so I
think he'll be alright.
"I think he was right to say what he said. I don't think it should be in the
game or anywhere. Him speaking out was the right thing. If it happened to me
I would do the same."
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