Photo: Courtesy of Eurosport

 

Italian sports daily Corriere dello Sport has been condemned by anti-racism group Fare for using the headline "Black Friday" along with a picture of players Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku to preview Friday's match between Inter ­Milan and AS Roma.

The headline, in English, was posted in bold letters on the newspaper's front page along with a picture of the two black players.

It drew criticism from Fare which retweeted the headline under the comment, "The media fuels racism every day. This is today's edition of Corriere dello Sport."

Italian football has been plagued by racism and Lukaku himself was a victim when the Belgium forward was insulted with monkey chants when he went to take a penalty for Inter Milan during a Serie A match at Cagliari.

A veteran Italian pundit was dropped from one of the country's Sunday night round-table programs in September after suggesting Lukaku could only be stopped by giving him ­bananas to eat.

Last month, the president of Italian club Brescia said on the sidelines of a Serie A meeting that striker Mario Balotelli's problem was that he was "black," and he was "trying to get whiter."