(ANSA) – ROME, OCT 20 – Atalanta’s Colombian striker Duvan Zapata was denied entry to a Bergamo bank by a security guard because he is black, drawing accusations of racial profiling, Corriere della Sera reported Thursday.
“Where do you think you’re going? Go somewhere else, this isn’t a place for your kind,” the guard reportedly told the 31-year-old center forward, who has 34 Colombian caps and four goals for his country.
Zapata, who has played 130 times for Atalanta and scored 66 goals for the Bergamo side since joining them from Sampdoria in 2018, replied “I’m Zapata, I’m Zapata, let me in”, said the Bergamo edition of Italy’s biggest selling newspaper.
The incident was then cleared up and the bank apologized to the player, its client.
The case drew comparisons with that of AC Milan’s France midfielder Tiémoué Bakayoko who was pulled from his car and arrested at gunpoint in July in a case of mistaken identity that also drew accusations of racial profiling.
Some 22 years ago, in 2000, AC Milan, Ajax and Netherlands great Clarence Seedorf suffered similar treatment to Zapata soon after he arrived at Inter Milan from Real Madrid, before moving across town to AC. (ANSA).
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