Sterling, Pogba defend Kean over Bonucci ’50-50′ criticism

Joe Williams
Moise Kean Juventus

Raheem Sterling has hit out at Leonardo Bonucci for claiming that Moise Kean should take half the blame after he was racially abused by Cagliari fans.

Kean scored Juve’s crucial second goal in a 2-0 win over Cagliari on 85 minutes and celebrated in front of the home fans, who had been taunting him throughout the match with monkey chants.

The 19-year-old’s celebration in front of their fans intensified the abuse and Bonucci amazingly claimed Kean should shoulder some of the blame for the racist abuse he suffered.

“Kean knows that when he scores a goal, he has to focus on celebrating with his teammates. He knows he could’ve done something differently too,” Bonucci told Sky Sport Italia.

“There were racist jeers after the goal, Blaise heard it and was angered. I think the blame is 50-50, because Moise shouldn’t have done that and the Curva should not have reacted that way.

“We are professionals, we have to set the example and not provoke anyone.

“I prefer to talk about the great performance. We were aggressive on the wings, as we knew they could cause problems with crosses.

“We knew Cagliari do zonal marking and leave that gap open, so we’d practiced in training yesterday and it worked out perfectly.”

And Sterling tagged Bonucci on Instagram in a post that criticised the defender’s comments, the Manchester City winger wrote: “The blame is 50-50. All you can do now is laugh.”

Meanwhile, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba also stood by Kean after he suffered the abuse, he said: “I support every fight against racism, we are all equal.”