The three lingering issues from the Yaya Touré-CSKA racism issue two weeks ago in Moscow:
- (a.) People are still racist, some very much so.
- (b.) CSKA is in denial that a significant number of these people are amongst their supporters.
- (c.) With only closed sections/stadiums as punishment, UEFA has yet to offer an effective deterrent.
But with the Russian champions coming to England on Tuesday, that problem is now Manchester City’s, who will welcome a small throng of CSKA supports to the Etihad Stadium for tomorrow’s UEFA Champions League match. Wary of monkey noises targeting Yaya Touré on their own field, the few City representative available to the media have spoken on the matter (as opposed to denying it happened).
[MORE: Racist chants darken the UEFA Champions League night for Manchester City]
[MORE: CSKA Moscow president Evgeny Giner: ‘Yaya Touré made it up’]
Manchester City head coach Manuel Pellegrini, making it clear "[the club does not] want any more racist abuse”:“The fans of CSKA made an important mistake. The club, I don’t know why they denied at the beginning or what their reaction is now, but UEFA acted and gave them the punishment they deserve. I hope we can leave it in the past and [give something to think of] for Russian fans because they have a World Cup in their country.”
Source: The Guardian
Pellegrini’s being generous here as it concerns the punishment. UEFA ordered one end of Khimki Arena closed during CSKA’s next Champions League match, possibly a sufficient sanction had the club not denied their supporters’ actions, implicitly providing cover for future hate speech.Touré’s teammate Pablo Zabaleta:
“Obviously what happened in Moscow was really hard for Yaya. We are all behind him and any time we see something like that we try to help the players. Hopefully UEFA is always on it, as players we can do nothing we just need to give a massive support to the black players when they have some problems like that. Let me talk about football, that is the most important thing.”
Source: The Guardian
Yes, let’s get back to talking about football, but it’s wise to take a moment to remember what happened in Moscow.
I’m sure everybody on City’s side is well intentioned, but brushing it under the rug and pretending it didn’t happen sounds a lot like the solution we’ve tried for most of our lifetimes. In that way, it’s good Pellegrini and Zabaleta said something to remind us (and CSKA’s fans), even if the media undoubtedly made them do so.
