“I was more afraid now, because of the threats after the Juan Jesus case, than when I had cancer“. It is one of the most significant sentences of the interview Francesco Acerbi to the Corriere della Sera. The Inter defender, for the first time, after the sports judge’s acquittal, tells the truth about him: “There is no comparison with the disease, it was a walk in the park in comparison, I wasn’t afraid. Instead, the atrocious fury I’ve seen towards myself in recent days has hurt me. I’ve done a lot to remove the label that I had when I was younger and become an example of consistency and professionalism and I risked losing everything in an instant“.
Acerbi and the response to the accusations
Acerbi harshly rejects the accusations of racism: “I am sad and sorry: it is an affair in which we have all lost. When I was acquitted, I saw the people around me react as if I had been released after ten years in prison, very happy to have come out of such a situation: they were very heavy days (HERE THE COMPANY’S WORDS). I’m only speaking today because I had faith in justice and I didn’t want to risk fueling a fuss that was already enormous. Now that there is a sentence, I would like to say my opinion, without having absolutely anything against Juan Jesus, in fact it’s the opposite because I’m very sorry for him too. But you can’t call a person a racist for a misunderstood word in the heat of the game. And you can’t continue to do it even after I’ve been acquitted.”.
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