Sacchi sparks racism storm after comment on black players

LEGENDARY manager, Arrigo Sacchi, has sparked a racism storm after inappropriate comments about black players at an awards ceremony.

  The former Milan coach is hailed as one of the game’s great thinkers after assembling one of the greatest club sides of all-time, but disappointed his many fans on Monday night with an ill-judged rant about the composition of Italian youth sides.

  Sacchi even threw in a disclaimer that he wasn’t racist before claiming that there were simply too many black players.

  “I’m certainly not racist and my history as a coach proves that, starting from [Frank] Rijkaard” Sacchi had said at an awards ceremony, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport . 

  “But looking at the Viareggio tournament [a prestigious youth competition] I feel like saying that there are too many black players, even in the youth teams.

  “Italy has no dignity, no pride. It’s not possible that our teams should have 15 foreign players in the squad.”

 After a furore about his comments, Sacchi later attempted to clarify that he had been misunderstood.

  “I have been misinterpreted. Imagine if I was racist. I only said that I saw at a game with a team that fielded four black guys.

  “My story is clear, I always coached teams with different colours and I bought many, both in Milan and at Real Madrid. I just wanted to point out that we are losing pride and our national identity.”