Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku says racism in football is at an “unsurpassed high” ahead of the beginning of the European Championships (Euro 2020).
In his preparation ahead of the Euro 2020 competition, Lukaku, has complained that he has experienced serious racial abuse on several occasions all through his football profession. In fact, he was the subject of monkey chants from fans in 2019.
Belgium will play their first game at the Euros against Russia on Saturday May 12. According to the striker, recent racism towards players is just deteriorating. He thinks because of social media, racism in football is currently at the record-breaking high.
Expounding on the issue, Lukaku added:
“For me, to be honest, I don’t really see progress. I see a lot of campaigns and all that stuff, but really until there is no real action taken. In Italy, when it happened to me directly, there was something that was done because the Serie A really communicated with me and my team.
And we basically tried to educate people in Italy that it is not good, because in Italy, it is a beautiful country and I’ve been accepted really well by everybody, home fans, away fans. I think when that happened, it changed. That’s what all the leagues should do. They should talk to the players and basically try to start doing things with the players and with their teams.”
Over the previous week, fans in England have booed while players took a knee in front of games against Austria and Romania.
England Manager Gareth Southgate said his players are “completely joined together” on taking a knee and “decided like never before” to do as such all through the Euros.
This year’s competition, which was delayed from a year ago, is being held across 11 urban communities – Amsterdam, Baku, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Munich, London, Rome, Seville, Saint Petersburg – where a predetermined number of fans are being permitted to join in.
Lukaku, whose goal aided Belgium to a 1-0 triumph against Croatia on Sunday, scored 24 league goals last season as Inter Milan won its first Scudetto since 2010. His Belgium team are among the top choices to win the forthcoming Euros having always lost the competition.
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