Francesco Acerbi will not join the Italian national team for the tour in the USA, where two friendly matches are scheduled. The decision to exclude the Inter defender from the team came after the incident that saw him as a protagonist yesterday in Inter-Napoli with Juan Jesus who reported a racist offense before receiving an apology.
Acerbi, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) reports, clarified in the Rome camp to the coach, Luciano Spalletti, and his teammates that he had no discriminatory intent, but it was decided not to keep him in the squad "for the necessary serenity of the national team and the player himself." Acerbi leaves the camp today.
Defending the player was his agent, Federico Pastorello: "I believe what Juan Jesus said at the end of the match that it was not an insult or a racist offense, also because it was reported incorrectly - Pastorello said - he did not say that phrase anyway. I believe what Francesco told me, who is a boy of great morality. They clarified things between them, the two players, even though these are things that need to be checked nowadays and punished if there are grounds to do so. Again, from what Acerbi tells me it was a dispute on the field but without using a racist expression or phrase: it was a clash during the game, then maybe one word was used in place of another, but the word “negro” was not used, just to be clear," he explained to Radio Sportiva.