Zlatan Ibrahimovic expected to avoid racism charges over Romelu Lukaku clash
By Tom Gott
AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not expected to charged with racism over his clash with Inter's Romelu Lukaku in January.
During the two sides' meeting in the Coppa Italia quarter-final, the two strikers were involved in a heated exchange, during which Ibrahimovic appeared to be caught calling Lukaku a 'donkey' and telling him to go do 'some voodoo s**t'.
Accusations of racism were quickly rebuffed by Ibrahimovic, but an investigation was opened into the incident nonetheless to determine whether either player deserved to be punished for the incident, with Ibrahimovic's case being heard on Saturday.
Numerous reports in Italy, including from La Gazzetta dello Sport and Football Italia, note that prosecutors are satisfied that Ibrahimovic's words were not racist and were simply just standard 'trash talk'.
The Swede maintained that the 'voodoo' mention was simply a reference to the media coverage of Lukaku's clash with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri, who claimed the striker opted to leave the Toffees because of a voodoo message.
By pointing to the English media coverage of that incident, Ibrahimovic argued that his comments were simply based on a news story and not related to Lukaku's African heritage.
Ibrahimovic was also asked to explain his use of the term 'donkey', but he again pointed to how English fans use that word to describe a player with no technical ability - a claim regularly thrown at Lukaku towards the end of his time with Manchester United.
It's worth noting that Lukaku has not accused Ibrahimovic of racism. Italian authorities were always confident that there was nothing to this incident, but wanted to make sure they gave allegations of racism the respect they deserve by opening an investigation.
The investigators will soon interview Lukaku, both to get his side of the story and to question his involvement in the clash, but it seems as though this one will be brushed under the rug in the near future.
The pair were both issued yellow cards for their behaviour during the match, and that booking ended up leading to one-game suspensions for both.
Lukaku served his ban during the first leg of Inter's Coppa Italia semi-final to Juventus, while Ibrahimovic will have to wait until next season before his suspension becomes active.