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'I won't return' Arsenal's Vieira lashes out at Serie A racism
BERLIN (AP) -- Arsenal and French World Cup midfielder Patrick Vieira lashed out at racism in Italy in a magazine interview published Tuesday, vowing never to play in Serie A again. "Although some major clubs in Italy are interested in me, I won't return. Absolutely not. There's an unbearable atmosphere of racism that rules there," Vieira told Germany's Kicker magazine. The World Cup and Euro 2000 star previously played for AC Milan. He also was involved in a well-publicized incident with Lazio Rome's Sinisa Mihajlovic when Arsenal played an October Champions League match in Italy. UEFA, European soccer's governing body, suspended Mihajlovic after Vieira claimed the defender taunted him with racist remarks like "black monkey" throughout the match. The Yugoslav player said he was called a "gypsy." But Vieira said the atmosphere at Rome's stadium was poisoned for the entire match. Although racist taunting happens in stadiums across Europe, Italian spectators have been the most notorious in recent years. "We were there to play soccer and I found an inhuman atmosphere with incomprehensible insults against me because of my skin color," said Vieira. Vieira said the Lazio incident wasn't isolated, but symptomatic for the racism widespread in world soccer. "Italy is the example. I've spoken with other dark-skinned players who played in Serie A and everybody says the same things. For example, Paul Ince, he had the same problems there. Sad, but true," Vieira said of the English player for Middlesbrough. The Arsenal player said there had to be steps taken to fight the growing racism found inside stadiums, both against the fans and players. "UEFA made the right decision by penalizing Mihaljovic. The clubs and those responsible must find a solution to fight these excesses. One day something really terrible will happen and then everybody will lament again," Vieira said. On Friday, UEFA took action because of the recent rash of racist incidents in stadiums. It gave its disciplinary board the power to close the door to spectators for ensuring home matches if a team is sanctioned for racist behavior. In February, Italian authorities attempting to combat the increasing appearance of racist slogans and banners in the country's stadiums ordered games to be suspended to remove the slogans.
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