Callum Hudson-Odoi: Maurizio Sarri praises Chelsea star's 'character' in face of racist abuse

Hudson-Odoi was subjected to racist abuse during England's Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro last month

Friday 05 April 2019 14:13 BST
Comments
Hudson-Odoi calls for UEFA to take action after England win marred by racist chanting

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Maurizio Sarri believes teenager Callum Hudson-Odoi has the composure to brush off the abuse he has suffered in both Chelsea and England colours.

Hudson-Odoi was subjected to racist abuse during England's Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro last month with Danny Rose speaking out about football's growing problem while Juventus' Moise Kean was the target of monkey chants from Cagliari fans earlier this week.

Leonardo Bonucci has been criticised after suggesting his teammate "should take 50 per cent of the blame" but ​Sarri doesn't believe he is a racist, despite making a clear error of judgement.

"Hudson-Odoi is very strong, he has a great character; a very strong boy," Sarri said in his press conference ahead of the Premier League match against West Ham on Monday night.

On Bonucci he added: "I was surprised that this happened in Cagliari. Usually in Cagliari it's a good atmosphere in the stadium.

"I think Leonardo Bonucci made a mistake. But I am sure he probably wanted to say something different.

"Because I am sure Leonardo is not a racist. He made a mistake of course. We can only be an example for people. But it's a very difficult to solve the problem."

Meanwhile, Sarri says Ruben Loftus-Cheek has blossomed into a "complete" midfielder under his stewardship.

The England international has added a defensive element to his game and his manager believes he is now ready to feature more regularly in the first team.

"Now tactically Loftus is a very good midfielder," said Sarri. "At the beginning of the season he was a very offensive midfielder.

"Now he is complete I think. Maybe he's ready to start most of the games, but we need to check every day the condition of his back.

"This morning he had only a recovery session. Because he needs time to recover after a match.

"The problem in this moment is only that probably he's not able to play for 90 minutes."

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in