Koulibaly 'to appear in court'

By Football Italia staff

Napoli’s lawyer says Kalidou Koulibaly will appear in court for his ban appeal ‘to make people understand’ how it felt to be targeted by racist abuse.

Koulibaly was subjected to monkey chants during Napoli’s 1-0 defeat to Inter on Boxing Day yet came away with a two-match ban after he protested a second bookable offence.

“This is a story out of the ordinary. That’s why Koulibaly will also be there before the judge,” Mattia Grassani told Radio Marte.

“The lad wants to make people understand how he felt throughout the game and why he reacted the way he did, which is unlike Kalidou.

“We’re expecting a call between tomorrow and Wednesday, and we’ll try to get his ban revoked.

“The Muntari case? In that case they said the referee hadn’t grasped the mood of the player, so we’ll ask the judge if [referee Paolo] Mazzoleni perceived that Koulibaly wasn’t protesting for the yellow but rather those chants, which had hassled him from the start.

“In our opinion that didn’t happen. The bases of these two cases are therefore different because in Muntari’s case, he left the field and was sent off.

“In this case Kalidou applauded and was then dismissed, although the causes are the same.”

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