Romelu Lukaku has made an eloquent plea for players, clubs and federations as well as social media platforms to unite and take a stand against the scourge of racist abuse in the game. Inter Milan's new recruit from Manchester United was responding after being the target of monkey chants on Sunday. The abuse lasted for several seconds as the 26-year-old was preparing to take the winning penalty in Inter's 2-1 Serie A triumph at Cagliari in Sardinia.
"Many players in the last month have suffered from racial abuse, I did yesterday," the Belgian international wrote on Instagram on Monday. "Football is a game to be enjoyed by everyone and we shouldn't accept any form of discrimination that will put our game in shame." He called on football federations around the world to "react strongly" and suggested social media platforms need to do more with football clubs "because everyday you see at least a racist comment under a post of a person of colour".