Beretta wants racism sanctions

The Lega last Monday unable to reach an initial decision surrounding the events of the weekend's Milan derby, during which a section of Inter Milan fans were reported for shouting racist abuse at several AC Milan players.

The Federal Prosecutor has been asked to provide more useful circumstantial evidence in order for the Lega to assess the size and scale of the alleged misconduct.

Inter have already played in a partially-closed San Siro this season after fans were heard racially abusing Juventus players during a 1-1 draw in September, and a further partial closure applied to the stadium was suspended shortly before Sunday's game, which the Nerazzurri won 1-0.

Beretta believes the current system does not appropriately punish the offenders where the technology exists to do so efficiently, and has asked for those individuals deemed responsible to be "rigorously" punished.

He told legaseriea.it: "It's clear that the whole system of sanctions has been thought about in the wrong way for many reasons.

"It's wrong to penalise thousands of respectable fans for the intemperance of a few people, this is a mechanism that does not work well. It instead diminishes our ability to influence that small minority.

"Now, fundamentally, we are able to identify individuals who have been responsible for this inappropriate behaviour.

"It's wrong to generalise with the penalty, but it must be applied rigorously and subjectively to the people who have been responsible for this behaviour."

Roma were, however, fined 15,000 euros after fans were heard singing insulting chants about an opposition player during a 4-0 victory over Catania, with the throwing of flares from the Stadio Olimpico stands also taken into account.

Inter, Livorno and Cagliari were all fined smaller amounts after objects were thrown from the stands.

The Lega has also banned Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari for three games after he punched Inter counterpart Zdravko Kuzmanovic during Sunday night's derby.

The Ghanaian, who was sent off for the foul in second-half stoppage time, will miss games against Atalanta, Sassuolo and Hellas Verona before returning to contention for the trip to Cagliari on January 26.