Napoli take the knee for Juan Jesus anti-racism initiative

Napoli players took the knee, while the entire crowd shouted ‘no to racism’ as part of a series of initiatives following the decision not to charge Francesco Acerbi for alleged racist comments towards Juan Jesus.

The game with Atalanta kicked off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona at 11.30 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s five Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.

The last couple of weeks have been dominated by the controversy over alleged racist remarks made by Inter defender Acerbi towards Juan Jesus and the decision from the FIGC to clear him over a lack of evidence, despite noting the Brazilian was “in good faith” when making the accusation.

As a response, Napoli announced they would not adhere to the ‘official’ Lega Serie A anti-racism campaign, so scrap the ‘Keep Racism Out’ patch that other teams wear on their jersey this weekend.

Instead, they set up their own campaign, with a video on social media, then today before kick-off speaker Decibel Bellini, actor Marco D’Amore and Under-15 Napoli player Mane Seik read out a message.

It concluded with: “This is no time for indifference, Napoli make your voice heard, NO to Racism” – the last part shouted by the whole crowd at the Stadio Maradona.

Director of sport Mauro Meluso spoke to DAZN before the match.

“The club is no longer participating in the institutional initiatives over racism, we do it privately, because we were let down by the Juan Jesus situation. At times in life, just apologising would be enough…”

Napoli players then ‘took the knee’ during the Lega Serie A anthem, a pointed response to the authorities.

Taking the knee became a powerful anti-racism symbol during the Black Lives Matter protests and became a regular occurrence ahead of Premier League games last season.

Only one of the last 17 Serie A meetings between these two clubs was a draw, a 2-2 thriller in October 2019, along with 10 Napoli victories and six for La Dea.