Noah Okafor was the hero for AC Milan as they battled from behind to beat Udinese at the Stadio Friuli tonight, and he made it clear that the team were hurt after what happened to Mike Maignan.
Milan took the lead in the first half through Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s striker, but not long after that the players left the field because Maignan had been subjected to repeated racist abuse from the home fans.
The goalkeeper was visibly and understandably upset and angry with the situation as he remonstrated with the referee and even the Udinese staff, but the teams came back out a few minutes later.
Udinese equalised through Lazar Samardzic and then took the lead through Florian Thauvin in the second half before Milan’s late show sprung into life.
Luka Jovic headed home from close range to level the scores inside the final ten minutes, and then Okafor controlled a corner and thumped home to steal all three points in added time.
The Swiss forward spoke to DAZN after the game to try and convey his emotions after a rollercoaster game, starting with the more distressing note. MilanNews relayed his comments.
What did the racist chants in Maignan tell you?
“There is no room for these things in football, they have nothing to do with it. We are all the same, these are things that hurt. Then Mike was focused on the match but these things are hurtful.”
Talk us through your emotions after that goal…
“I’m really happy. I’m back and I’m fine, I’m happy because it’s worth three points.”
How important do you feel for the team?
“Every match and every goal is important. I give everything for the team. I’m happy, I’m only interested in helping the team.”
Do you believe in the Scudetto?
“We have great quality, the coach works hard with us. We just have to think game by game and improve.”
Hopefully those racist fans will enjoy watching their team on Serie B next season.
Agreed.
Udinese fans need to be penalized. Have them Play without fans for at least a month. Disgraceful from them
But they have the highest number of Black players in their team. They will definitely be doing the same thing to their players whenever they’re on poor run of form. Stupid fans, they need to be delt with and hopefully they enjoy serie B next season.
Really happy for Okafor.
But this bs racism keeps happening in serie-a because FIGC doesn’t give heavy punishment to the perpetrators.
He was proactively calming down and support Maignan during the pause. He has good instinct and attitude to be a great player. Salute Okafor!
I think Okafor’s averaging a goal/ 100mins