Sterling slams Bonucci over “50-50” comment on racist chants at Moise Kean

Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has led criticism of Leonardo Bonucci’s claims that his Juventus teammate Moise Kean was “50-50” to blame for the racist chanting he was subjected to be Cagliari fans on Tuesday night.

Kean, 19, was verbally abused all night by sections of the home support.

Kean, though, had the final say when scoring Juve’s second goal of the 2-0 win with five minutes left before standing next to the post, his arms spread in defiant response to the abuse coming from the stands behind – which only continued to grow louder.

Bonucci, who had scored the first goal for the Serie A leaders, had told Italian media post-match: “Kean knows that when he scores a goal, he has to focus on celebrating with his teammates. He knows he could’ve done something different too.

“There were racist jeers after the goal, Blaise heard it and was angered. I think the blame is 50-50 because Moise shouldn’t have done that and the Curva should not have reacted that way.

“We are professionals, we have to set the example and not provoke anyone.”

Sterling, who was the target of racist abuse during England’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro last week, was angry with Bonucci’s comment.

He wrote on Instagram on Wednesday, “The blame is 50-50 @bonucci19. All you can do now is laugh.”

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri also felt that Kean had been unwise to celebrate his second goal in front of the Cagliari fans.

“He shouldn’t have celebrated in that manner,” Allegri said. “He is a young man and he has to learn, but certain things from the crowd also shouldn’t be heard.”

In his post-match comments to broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, Allegri turned his attention to the need for the football authorities to tackle the “idiots” head on.

“You need great intelligence to deal with these situations and should not go to provoke people. That, of course, does not mean the idiots in the crowd and the way they reacted should be justified,” he said.

“As always in life, there are idiots who do stupid things and ruin it for everyone else.