London
Serbia’s champions Red Star Belgrade on Friday strongly condemned racists slogans chanted at Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, during their Europa League last 32 first leg with Milan AC.
“Red Star most strongly condemns insults addressed to Ibrahimovic” during Thursday’s match, the club said in a statement and apologised to the player, whose father is a Bosnian.
N1 regional television broadcast scenes of Ibrahimovic, who did not play but was sitting at the stadium, as the voice of a man chanting to him “stinky Balija” several times can be heard. The latter is a pejorative name for Bosnian Muslims used by Serbian nationalists.
Red Star pledged to cooperate closely with the authorities to identify the man. The match, which ended in a 2-2 draw, was played without specators in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the stadium’s hospitality boxes on the top of its western stands, that can accommodate several hundred people, were packed. Tickets for those seats are usually not put on sale but are given either to the club’s guests or to journalists.—AFP
