Arsenal's French midfield star Patrick Vieira has called on football's authorities to take action against the racist abuse he suffered from one of Lazio's players during their Champions League tie on Tuesday. Vieira claims that Lazio's Yugoslavian defender Sinisa Mihajlovic subjected him to torrent abuse before, during and after the game in Rome. "I want to talk about this because something has got to be done. Somebody must do something. It has got to stop. There were a lot of bad things said to me and all of them came from one player - Mihajlovic. It is bad enough when the crowd says things, that is stupid. But when it comes from a player it is unbelievable," said the World Cup winner.
Vieira explained that he spoke about the matter with other players at the Rome club and that they apologised on behalf of Mihajlovic. However, it is not yet known if any action will be taken against the Yugoslav or his club. The official match reports made by the referee and the UEFA official who were at the game will be examined before a decision is taken on whether the matter should be passed on to the disciplinary committee.
UEFA will definitely be investigating claims made by Arsenal that their black players were attacked by Lazio fans who pelted objects at them at the end of the game. A spokesperson for UEFA has said if there is evidence that serious disciplinary incidents took place, UEFA's committee will convene as soon as possible and make their judgements.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
