For the first time since the start of the Europeans, against Wales also five players from Italy they knelt down before the match kick-off to support Black Lives Matter, the activist movement born in the United States and committed to the fight against racism.
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To make the gesture before Italy-Wales on the lawn of theOlympic in Rome They were Federico Bernardeschi, Andrea Belotti, Emerson Palmieri, Matteo Pessina (the author of the goal that decided the challenge) and Rafael Toloi, while the other players from Italy did not participate. The National team of Wales, on the other hand, knelt compactly, as had already happened in other matches. The choice naturally remains individual: the first time this has happened to Italy, because the five who have decided to kneel had never started right up to this match.
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What others do
The other national teams are also divided on the issue: if Belgium participates in a compact way, for example the players of Russia have all remained standing. On the subject, he also spoke at the press conference Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker of Inter: I do not kneel only as a sign of solidarity towards the Black Lives Matter campaign. I am against any kind of discrimination, for example even those of gender or any other kind. We must respect everyone, for me the most important thing. Didn’t the Russians get down on their knees? I didn’t look at what the others did, even though someone from Russia apologized to me later. The players of France, on the other hand, changed their minds after the protests aroused in the country by the right that had invited to boycott cheering for the national team and have decided not to kneel anymore. The debate had also heated up in England and Prime Minister Boris Johnson had also intervened.
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Europeans 2021: all the insights
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June 20, 2021 (change June 20, 2021 | 20:26)
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