Striker Romelu Lukaku says “we are going backwards” on racism after he was racially abused by Cagliari fans while playing for Inter Milan on Sunday.
Serie A is investigating after the Belgian was abused when scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 away victory.
It follows incidents where Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford, and Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham were abused on social media.
“As players we need to unify and make a statement on this matter,” Lukaku said.
Former Manchester United striker Lukaku scored a 72nd-minute penalty and stood and stared at fans behind the goal – where monkey chants had come from.
“Many players in the last month have suffered from racial abuse… I did yesterday too,” Lukaku said.
“Football is a game to be enjoyed and we shouldn’t accept any form of discrimination that will put our game in shame.
“Ladies and gentlemen it’s 2019 – instead of going forwards we’re going backwards.
“I hope the football federations all over the world react strongly on all cases of discrimination.
“Social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) need to work better as well with football clubs because every day you see at least a racist comment under a post of a person of colour. We’ve been saying it for years and still no action.”
Lukaku’s former United team-mates Pogba and Rashford were both targeted on social media after penalty misses this season.
Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma was racially abused on Saturday after an own goal against Sheffield United, while team-mate Abraham and Reading’s Yakou Meite both received racist messages online after missing penalties last month.
England women’s manager Phil Neville said footballers should “boycott” social media and Chelsea boss Frank Lampard said social media companies needed to do more.
Last month, Twitter said it would meet clubs and campaigning organisations to show the “proactive work” being done to tackle abuse.
Past incidents at Cagliari
The abuse of Lukaku was the latest incident in which a black player has been racially abused on the pitch by Cagliari fans, prompting calls for action to be taken.
The Sardinian club have been widely criticised on social media but neither Cagliari nor Inter have commented on the racist abuse.
It was mentioned by Italian media but did not make the front pages of any of the three main sporting newspapers.
Last season Everton’s Moise Kean suffered similar abuse when playing against Cagliari for Juventus.
Serie A decided not to sanction Cagliari for their fans’ racism – despite admitting their actions were “reprehensible”.
The previous year Cagliari fans were called out after abusing another Juventus player, Blaise Matuidi – but Italian football chiefs did not take any action.
In 2017, Pescara midfielder Sulley Muntari walked off the pitch after being racially abused by Cagliari fans – but was subsequently banned by football authorities for his protest.
