Francesco Acerbi has reportedly spoken with Inter regarding the alleged racist incident involving Juan Jesus, claiming that the Napoli defender misheard him. Acerbi was accused of using racial insults during the Nerazzurri’s 1-1 draw with Napoli at the weekend, with Juan Jesus giving his side of events via a social media post.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Goal Italia) report that on Tuesday, Acerbi provided his version of events to Inter regarding the incident with Juan Jesus during Sunday night’s match against Napoli.
Now, Acerbi faces the crucial and decisive step of appearing before the Federal Prosecutor to convince sports justice of his innocence and avoid prematurely ending his season.
According to the report, Acerbi denied insulting Juan Jesus with racist intentions. The defender provided his account of the events, stating that Juan Jesus misunderstood a phrase, interpreting it as “you are [racial slur]” instead of “I’ll kick your ass (‘Ti faccio nero’).”
For now, Inter is taking a wait-and-see approach. Following the discussion with Acerbi, the club has chosen not to issue official statements and is awaiting decisions from Sports Justice on the matter. Based on this, the club will determine whether further action against Acerbi is necessary, including the possibility of terminating his tenure with Inter.
Now, it’s up to Federal Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné to shed light on the matter by directly hearing from both Acerbi and Juan Jesus. Chiné has already obtained footage and any potential audio recordings of the alleged incident, including those from VAR to listen to any on-field conversations between the two players and referee La Penna, to whom Juan Jesus had already reported the alleged racist insults during the match.
Under sports regulations, the Inter defender will not have the opportunity to plea bargain and thus cannot benefit from any potential reduction in punishment. In the event of guilt, Acerbi faces a minimum suspension of 10 matches for violating Article 28, Paragraph 2, which states: “A player who commits a violation for discriminatory behavior is punished with a suspension of at least 10 matches or, in more serious cases, with a specific term suspension.”
