No national team for Francesco Acerbi, who was involved in an alleged racist offense against Napoli player Juan Jesus during Inter-Napoli, played on Sunday. The Inter defender, who arrived at the national team's retreat in Rome this morning, explained to coach Luciano Spalletti and teammates, as required by the Club Italia's internal policy, his version of the affair, in which Juan Jesus had complained to the referee during the match and then explained at the end of the match that Acerbi had later apologized. The FIGC explains that from the Nerazzurri defender's account, "pending the reconstruction of what happened in respect of the autonomy of sports justice, it has emerged that there was no defamatory, disparaging or racist intent on his part”. However, it was agreed to exclude Acerbi from the list of summoned players for the next two friendly matches scheduled in the United States, "to ensure the necessary serenity for the national team and for the player himself, who will return to his home club today". As a result, Roma defender Gianluca Mancini, who was already part of the pre-convocation list, was summoned. "He apologized to me, it was a field thing and that was it," were Juan Jesus' words to DAZN at the end of the match.
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