Liam Rosenior has called for players and coaches found guilty of racism to be banned from football for life and said experiencing abuse on a football pitch “is the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine”.
The Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior left the pitch after alleging that Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni racially abused him during their Champions League match on Tuesday. Prestianni has denied racist abuse and Benfica have said he was a “victim” of a “smear campaign”. The Argentinian faces a 10-game ban if found guilty by Uefa.
Benfica’s manager, José Mourinho, appeared to suggest Vinícius had been provocative with his “stupid” goal celebration. Rosenior refused to comment on Mourinho’s views, citing the current investigation, but believes the Brazil forward “was upset for a reason”.
“Any form of racism in society, let alone football, is unacceptable,” Chelsea’s head coach said. “What I would say is when you see a player upset, how Vinícius Júnior was upset, normally they’re upset for a reason.
“I cannot speak about an incident where an investigation is ongoing. I won’t speak about that incident. I’ve been racially abused myself. I know people who have been racially abused. What people have to understand is when you are judged for something that you should be proud of, it is the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine. There are historical things to racism. I need to, as manager of this unbelievable football club, make my statement on it. If any player or any coach or any manager is ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn’t be in the game. It’s as simple as that for me.”
Asked what he had made of Mourinho’s comments, Rosenior said: “Again, it’s context. What I would say is regardless how a player celebrates, race should never come into it. That is an ongoing investigation. I don’t know the context of the situation. I don’t know the context in which José said what he said, and I won’t make a judgment on it. It’s the same thing. I won’t make a judgment until you get the facts.”
Rosenior, who revealed it was his decision to tell Chelsea’s players to “get some sun” this week after an unrelenting schedule this season before they face Burnley on Saturday, blamed growing divisions in modern society on certain sections of the media “who make prejudgments on people”.
“There are a lot of things that need to change in our society,” he said. “I’m not talking about football. There’s a lot of division. There’s a lot of people in the media who make prejudgments on people or how they behave or who they are based on a sexual orientation, what country they come from, what religion they are, what colour of skin they have.
“It sickens me, to be honest. I think it’s a wider debate than just football. I think people need to be held a lot more accountable than they are at the moment in terms of social media, in terms of the press, to make sure that these things are stamped out, because everybody should be judged equally based on the content of the character.”
