Juventus’ 2-2 draw with Fiorentina on Sunday afternoon was temporarily suspended when Dusan Vlahovic was subjected to racist abuse.
Vlahovic was a former player for Fiorentina, and the Italian club’s ultras started chanting about his heritage, which led to referee Maurizio Mariani stopping the game, talkSPORT reports.
The Fiorentina fans are said to have repeatedly called Vlahovic a ‘Gypsy’, which is a derogatory term for the Traveller community.
Vlahovic was born in Belgrade, which is now Serbia’s capital.
Eastern Europe is believed to be where one group of Travellers, the Romanis, originated.
Announcements echoed around the Allianz Stadium asking spectators who were doing the offensive chants to stop, while a message also appeared on the boards.
The stoppage lasted seven minutes before the players came back out to finish the match.
Fiorentina snatched a point in the dying minutes through Riccardo Sottil after Khephren Thuram’s double had put the Old Lady on the cusp of getting three points.
Vlahovic missed chances in the match himself and was denied by former Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea on a couple of occasions.
Thankfully, the racist abuse stopped. Though, the Fiorentina fans continued to boo and heckle their former striker before he was taken off in the 82nd minute.
He watched from the bench as Sottil scored late on from a Moise Kean pass to ensure La Viola left Turin with a point.
Vlahovic joined Juventus from Fiorentina in January 2022 for an initial €70 million.
He is coming up to three years in Turin, in which he’s made 123 appearances, scoring 53 goals and providing 11 assists.
