Paul Ince has slammed racism in Italian football after Romelu Lukaku was targeted for new club Inter Milan, and revealed he was plagued with exactly the same problems when playing for the club during the 90s.

The spotlight recently fell on Lukaku after vile monkey chants were aimed in his direction by Cagliari supporters as he stepped up to take a penalty against their side.

Chants were very audible as Lukaku stood over the ball, before smashing it home to seal a 2-1 victory and aiming a long, hard stare at the crowd.

Paul Ince has spoken out on the racism he suffered in Milan during his playing days with Inter

Romelu Lukaku suffered racist abuse at the hands of Cagliari fans, playing for new club Inter

Lukaku scored the winning penalty and stared at the section of the crowd abusing him

In the aftermath, Inter's own 'ultras' had the audacity to issue a post to Lukaku and insist the Cagliari fans were not being racist but simply trying to put him off his stride.

Now, speaking out on the issue, Ince has outlined the depths of which the roots of racism go in Italian football.

'Racism was such a big issue when I was playing in Italy, so I'm unfortunately not surprised about what's happened with Romelu Lukaku,' Ince told Paddy Power.

Lukaku's team-mate Milan Skriniar was seen putting his fingers to his lips to the Cagliari fans

'It's funny because I remember going to Cremonese as an Inter Milan player. I went out for the ball with the goalkeeper and the keeper fouled me.

'We both went down, and was rolling around for a bit. I got up just to show I wasn't hurt and carried on playing.

'Then, suddenly half the stadium was shouting racial abuse at me.

'I'd done my hip in and I was trying to stay on, because I didn't want to come off and let them know I was hurt. But for the next 20 minutes or so, until half time, they were shouting awful stuff at me, 'negro' and 'negro di merdia' – that kind of thing. That was terrible.'

Ince admits that the problems were there quite literally from day one, after he arrived in Milan to find a racist message greeting him in his new country of residence.

'It was probably even worse when I first went to join Inter, there was even a racist remark on the wall about me, since the first day I landed there. It's always been there.

Ince spent two years with Inter and reveals he was racially abused from his very first day

'It feels like Italian fans have always got away with it – their federation never stamped down on it, and so they still feel they can use that kind of behaviour to affect black players.

'I don't think UEFA did or do enough to stop it, they have to set a precedent down with all teams, whether it's in Italy, France, England, wherever – everyone, but they're not doing it.'

Following the events, Serie A's disciplinary judge Gerardo Mastrandrea has said more evidence is needed before deciding if Cagliari should be punished for the racist chants.