Kevin-Prince Boateng, the former Portsmouth midfield player, and the rest of his AC Milan team-mates have been inundated with praise from figures both within and outside football after walking off the pitch during a friendly match yesterday in response to racist abuse directed at the club’s black players, an incident described as a “national shame” in Italy.
The former Portsmouth and Tottenham midfielder was so incensed by the chants emanating from one corner of the ground that he picked the ball up and booted it towards the offending supporters in the stands before ripping off his shirt and storming off the pitch.
There was a brief period of confusion as players from both sides tried to talk to Boateng, but Milan’s Italian captain Massimo Ambrosini instructed the rest of the Milan team to walk off in a show of support for Boateng.