UEFA has charged Roma after some of their supporters allegedly directed monkey chants at Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger during Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Stamford Bridge.
A statement from UEFA on Friday read, “Disciplinary proceedings have been opened following the UEFA Champions League group stage match between Chelsea FC and AS Roma (3-3), played on October 18 in England.”
UEFA said the charge was “racist behaviour (monkey chants),” adding, “this case will be dealt with by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body” on Nov. 16.
Rudiger left the Italian side for Chelsea last summer, having previously expressed his frustration at a failure to tackle racist incidents which saw him targeted.
The German defender was subjected to abuse from Lazio fans during a derby earlier this year, while he also was the target of a racist insult from Lazio midfielder Senad Lulic in December.
Lulic was banned for one game and fined €10,000, while Lazio were not punished at all for the fans’ chants, and Rudiger said he was not satisfied.
“I just want justice. I want FIFA or the FA in Italy just to suspend those people who do that,” he told multiple English newspapers in July.
“Those people need to be banned from the stadium or fined. You cannot even put yourself in my position of how that feels,” he added.
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